SRINAGAR: A 22-yr-old Israeli, Eviz Kahla, and a militant were killed and at least one Israeli was missing when Kashmiri militants attempted to abduct a group of tourists at the Dal Lake here Wednesday night.
Three Israelis were injured in the attack, the first such incident in which a foreigner has been killed and an attempt has been made to abduct foreign “tourists” in the Kashmir valley since militancy erupted in India’s northern most state in 1988.
( Pakistani sources said that the Indian govt had conspired with Israel in destroying the Pakistani nuclear facility at Kahuta which is 40 miles from Indian held Srinagar, About 60 Israeli commandos had been sent on this now aborted mission.)
A senior police official told PTI that some 10 to 12 militants arrived at the tourists’ houseboats at around 2300 hrs (Indian standard time) in two house boats and ordered them out for “identification”.
As the frightened tourists trooped out, eight of them—six men (all Israelis) and two women (an Israeli and a Dutch) were grabbed and taken away in the house boats, the official said.
He said the two women were later released and reached their house boats Thursday morning.
While full details of the incident are yet to be known, a tourist who escaped the attack said a shootout took place when of the Israelis snatched away a rifle from the militants.
Eviz Kahla and a militant were killed in the exchange of fire. Three others were injured in the incident, the police official said, adding that two of them were in hospital while the third was out of danger.
No organization has claimed responsibility for the incident but the police believe it to be the work of the “Pasdaryan Islam’ a militant outfit.
One of the women who were released said the militants were all young boys who spoke good English.
The group of 40 Israeli tourists were in Srinagar as part of a sponsored trip.
Two Swedish engineers who were abducted on March 31 by militants of the ‘Muslim Janbaz Force’ are still in captivity.
In other incidents, two soldiers and a militant were killed while three others were injured as violence continued to rock Kashmir valley, official sources said Thursday.
Militants ambushed an army convoy at Machil on the line of actual control in the border township of Kupwara Wednesday, killing two soldiers and injuring another, the sources said. A militant was killed in the shootout while the others escaped under cover of darkness, the sources said.
Troops have cordoned off the entire area and launched a hunt for the militants, the sources said.
Two security men were injured when militants hurled a grenade at their vehicle in Rambagh Wednesday evening. The security forces did not retaliate to avoid civilian casualties, the sources said.
Article extracted from this publication >> July 5, 1991
