SRINAGAR, INDIA: Kashmiri Separatists threatened July 17 to kill five Western hostages, and released a tape recording in which an American captive appealed for help from the United States and India.

It is the second time the AlFaran rebel group has set a deadline, offering to free the captives only if the Indian government releases 21 jailed militants.

By midnight Monday, as the second deadline passed, the insurgents had only released a statement saying the killings could begin, and an audio cassette with the captives’ pleas.

Article extracted from this publication >>  July 21, 1995