Five cops killed in attack on IHK bank van
 

SRINAGAR: Indian security forces suffered a double blow on Monday in the held Kashmir, with five policemen shot dead in a raid on a bank van and two soldiers killed in an attack along the border with Pakistan.

The armed men opened fire on a bank van carrying cash around 70 kilometres (43 miles) south of Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, killing everybody on board, police said. "All the seven in the van, five policemen and two bank employees, were killed," director general of police S P Vaid said about the raid in Pumbai in Kulgam district. The gunmen made off with cash and *******, a**ther police ******r said on condition of a**nymity.

In a statement to a local news agency, homegrown Kashmiri militant group Hizbul Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attack and warned more would follow. Suspected militants in recent months have targeted banks in the southern region of the Kashmir valley, where armed groups have been fighting against Indian rule for decades.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the predominantly Muslim Kashmir valley, one of the world´s most heavily militarised spots, where most people favour independence or a merger with Pakistan. Apart from armed militant groups, the roughly 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed in Kashmir are regularly involved in clashes with civilians, fuelling growing resentment against New Delhi.

The valley has been roiled by violence in recent months, with security forces opening fire on stone-throwing protesters. Indian troops last week shot at a crowd of demonstrators outside an army garrison where militants had earlier killed three soldiers, hitting one civilian who later died.

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