Kashmiri Rebels Say Wounded Hostage’s Condition Is Critical India Troops Warned To Stop Raiding Group’s Hideouts

Kashmiri rebels holding five Westerners hostage said Sunday that one of the two captives wounded in a gunbattle between separatists and soldiers is in critical condition.

The Al-Faran group said in a statement that soldiers had raided their hideouts in the Pahalgam area five times since the hostages were kidnapped July 4. The government denied claims that such gunbattles occurred.

The group is holding an American, two Britons, a German and a Norwegian.

Rebels said Friday that a gunbattle left two soldiers dead and several people wounded, including two of the hostages and a guerrilla. It did not say which hostages had been wounded.

The statement, released in the state capital Sringagar, said the clash occurred Thursday, when soldiers raided its hideout in Kapran and militants retaliated. An earlier communique said the shootout was on Friday.

“The firing by the Indian troops left two of the hostage-tourists wounded and one of them is serious,” it said. “If the Indian forces do not stop raiding our hideouts, the consequences will be serious.”

It said there would be “no guarantee until when the hostages will live” unless the government meets its demand to free 21 jailed separatists.

Rebel groups in Jammu-Kashmir, the only majority Muslim state in predominantly Hindu India, have been fighting for independence for five years. Pakistan has fought two wars with India over the region.

Captive are Donald Hutchings, 42, of Spokane; Paul Wells, 23, of London; Keith Mangan, 33, of Middlesbrough, England; Dirk Hasert, 26, of Erfert, Germany; and Hans Christian Ostro, 27, of Oslo, Norway.

A second American captive, John Childs, 41, of Simsbury, Connecticut, escaped on July 8 during a rainstorm.

Since 1989, Kashmiri militants have kidnapped 14 other foreigners, and freed all but one of them.