Three Kashmir militants arrested in NW Pakistan

TANK, Pakistan, Mar 28 (Reuters) Pakistani police arrested three Kashmir militants carrying explosives and ammunition in a northwestern town near a restive tribal region today, a senior police officer said.

Senior Superintendent of Police (SP), Dar Ali Khattak, said the militants were on their way from South Waziristan tribal agency in a four-wheel-drive vehicle when they were apprehended at a checkpoint in Tank, a town in North West Frontier Province bordering the semi-autonomous tribal area.

He said the militants belonged to Hizbul Mujahideen, a group engaged in fighting Indian rule in Kashmir, though they were caught some 360 km southwest of the frontier with Indian Kashmir.

''We recovered explosives, arms and ammunition, and some manuals for making bombs,'' Khattak said.

Militancy in Waziristan is more often linked al Qaeda and the Taliban, than groups operating in Kashmir.

India accuses Pakistan of supporting fighters in the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir. Islamabad denies this, saying it offers only diplomatic and moral support.

India is still pressing Pakistan to do more to stamp out militancy, although cross-border infiltration into Indian-held Kashmir has tailed off since the two countries began a peace process at the start of 2004.

South Asia's nuclear rivals have fought two of their three wars, since their partition in 1947, over Kashmir.

REUTERS DKS BS1615