Police forces kill suspected rebel chief

Srinagar: Government forces killed a suspected rebel commander yesterday in the Indian part of Kashmir, in what police called a successful campaign to weaken the region's largest separatist group.

Zahoor Ahmad was killed in fighting in Palhalan, a village about 30 kilometres north of Srinagar, the main city in India's Jammu-Kashmir state, police officer Mohammad Yousuf said.

Blamed for bombings

Yousuf said Ahmad belonged to the Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen separatist group, which has been blamed for dozens of bombings and deadly attacks since it began a violent campaign against Indian rule in the region in 1989.

Government forces arrested Ahmad in 2004, but he escaped from custody months later.

Yousuf said Ahmad's death led to protests on the streets of Palhalan, where hundreds of residents threw stones at police and chanted "We want freedom" and "We're with Hezb-ul-Mujahideen."

He said the protesters snatched the body of another suspected rebel killed during yesterday's fighting, and paraded it through the streets.

Police fired warning shots in the air and used batons and tear gar to disperse the angry protesters, Yousuf said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Kashmir's police chief said the Hezb-ul-Mujahideen leadership has been greatly reduced.

Yet Noor Mohammad Baba, a professor at the political science department in Kashmir University, said Ahmad's death was unlikely to have a long-lasting impact on Hezb-ul-Mujahideen.

"Militant groups such as Hezb-ul-Mujahideen have seen many reverses in the past. But I believe they have been able to maintain their activity at a minimum strategic level," he said.