1st LD Writethru: Militant attack on bank vehicle kills 2 guards in Indian-controlled Kashmir

SRINAGAR, Indian-controlled Kashmir, Dec. 11 (Xinhua) -- Two bank guards deployed with cash van of a local bank were killed Monday after a militant attack in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said.

The vehicle was attacked in village Kralcham-Kellar of Shopian district, 52 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"Two bank guards were today killed when militants opened indiscriminate fire on their vehicle in Kellar," a police official said.

Though the guards were immediately rushed to district hospital Shopian, however, the doctors there declared them brought dead.

Following the attack, government forces launched a search operation in the area to track down the assailants.

It was not immediately known if militants have looted cash from the vehicle or snatched service rifles of the bank guards.

"We are ascertaining the details of the attack," the police official said. In May this year, five policemen and two security guards of bank were killed in a similar attack in neighboring Kulgam.

This year there have been several instances of gunmen looting banks in the region.

Earlier in the day, three militants and a civilian woman were killed in a fierce gunfight in the region.

A guerilla war is going on between militants and Indian troops stationed in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989. The gunfight between the two sides takes place intermittently across the region.

Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Enditem