Srinagar - Thirty-one people were killed yesterday in gun battles and explosions in the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir, police and defence officials said. They said the dead included 16 separatist guerrillas and 11 Indian security force personnel.
Police said six Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed and three others were wounded when their vehicle ran over a mine near the Beerwah area of the Budgam district west of Srinagar, the summer capital of the state.
A spokesman for Kashmir's frontline militant group Hizbul Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the explosion. The group favours Kashmir's merger with Pakistan.