BBC News | SOUTH ASIA | Kashmir massacre suspect captured

Officials said the five men killed in a gun battle near the village were members of Muslim separatist militant groups fighting Indian rule in Kashmir - Laskhar-i-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahadeen.

India has claimed that both groups were involved in the massacre and had the backing of Pakistan.

The two groups denied the charges, as did Pakistan, which said its support for the separatists was purely moral and political.

The Pakistani authorities said Indian agents had been responsible for the killings - which they said were aimed at discrediting the cause of Kashmiri independence during US President Bill Clinton's tour of South Asia.

25,000 victims

During his visit to India earlier this week, Mr Clinton indicated that he did not believe the Pakistani claim in its entirety.

Many foreign diplomats in the region say privately that the Pakistan army, in particular, supports the separatist insurgency in almost any way it can.

Mr Clinton was expected to raise the issue during his brief visit to Pakistan.

The killings prompted widespread fears in Kashmir's Sikh community - which represents just 300,000 of the 7.9 million people in Indian-administered Kashmir and which had been largely untouched by the cycle of separatist violence. Hindu civilians are usually the target.

Nearly a dozen militant groups are fighting Delhi's rule in Kashmir, where police and hospitals say more than 25,000 people have been killed in a decade of violence.


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