REBELS IN KASHMIR KILL FIVE IN EX-SOLDIER'S FAMILY

July 20, 2004 - (Reuters) Suspected Muslim insurgents killed a retired soldier and four members of his family, including his five-year-old son, in Indian Kashmir on Tuesday, police said.

The gunmen stormed the home of the ex-soldier in Gurdian village, north of the state's winter capital Jammu and gunned down those inside, a police officer said.

Two women were among the dead.

Violence in the scenic region, the cause of two wars between India and Pakistan, has escalated in the last two months as New Delhi and Islamabad engage in a fledgling peace process.

On Monday, the deputy chief minister of Indian Kashmir, Mangat Ram Sharma, escaped a second attempt on his life in a week when militants threw a grenade at a meeting he was addressing.

The latest attacks come a day ahead of a meeting between Pakistani Foreign Minister Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri and his Indian counterpart Natwar Singh in Islamabad.

From: http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/DEL490177.htm