[Not NOW, dammit!]

Monday October 15 12:01 PM ET

Indian Army Shells Pakistani Posts

JAMMU, India (AP) - India's army shelled Pakistani military posts across the disputed cease-fire line in Kashmir (news - web sites) on Monday after a 10-month border calm, destroying nearly a dozen Pakistani posts, a senior army official said.

``We have fired heavily on Pakistani positions,'' Brig. P.C. Das, an army spokesman based in Nagrota near Jammu-Kashmir's winter capital of Jammu, told The Associated Press. Das said the shelling occurred in the frontier areas of Akhnoor and Mendar, and that 11 posts were hit.

The shelling comes a day before U.S. Secretary of State Colin Powell (news - web sites) arrives in New Delhi from Pakistan in a visit to ease tensions between the two nuclear rivals over the disputed province of Kashmir.

There was no apparent provocation for Monday's attack. But Indian Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee had last week hinted at tough action to fight the Islamic insurgency that has sapped Kashmir since 1989, claiming at least 30,000 lives.

Apart from artillery, Indian soldiers fired rockets, mortars, flame throwers, grenade launchers and machine guns during the operation, Das said.

``We have started punitive action,'' said Das, the brigadier-general staff of the Indian army's 16th corps. ``This is part of the proactive approach adopted by Indian Army.''

``We have completely destroyed their posts,'' Das said.

Das said Pakistani soldiers had sneaked into Indian territory in Akhnoor on Monday night and damaged three power transformers.

The Indian attack threatened to escalate tensions between the South Asian neighbors. Their dispute over Kashmir has forced them into two of their three wars over the past five decades.

India says Pakistan arms, trains and funds Islamic militants based in Pakistan who move across the border into Indian-controlled Kashmir to carry out terrorist attacks.

Pakistan says that it provides only moral, not material, aid to the guerrillas.

Das said 11 Pakistani posts were demolished in the two areas along the 1972 cease-fire line that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Das said details of Pakistani casualties were not known. He said such attacks could be launched again.

Late last month, five Islamic guerrillas and two soldiers died in fighting near the village of Mendar, 135 miles northwest of Jammu, the army said.

The fighting is part of a recent surge between the militants, who have been battling since 1989 to separate Kashmir from India, and Indian security forces. The militants have stepped up their attacks since India and Pakistan failed to agree on a common approach to the Kashmir issue when their leaders held summit talks in July.

More than a dozen militant groups have fought Indian security forces since 1989 in the Indian-held part of Kashmir, a Himalayan region divided with Pakistan. Human rights groups say more than 60,000 people have died in the 12-year insurgency, which aims to separate Kashmir from India.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001

Answers

awaiting the cleanup crew. hehe

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001

all better

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001

Thanks--but you didn't get that corner over there.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001

Sorry, we only do this side. You have to wipe up your own spittle.

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001

LOL!

-- Anonymous, October 15, 2001