Muslims Protest Killing Of Tourist

Striking Muslim militants closed businesses, markets, government offices, and educational institutions in the Vale of Kashmir on Wednesday to protest the killing of a Norwegian hostage by a shadowy faction.

The general strike is the first of its kind by Kashmiri separatists since the armed movement for independence from India began in 1989.

Another day passed on Wednesday without word on the fate of the four men, including a Spokane man, still held hostage by Al Faran, a separatist splinter group, in the mountains southwest of here.