INDIAN paramilitary forces have killed at least 16 Kashmiri separatist guerrillas in the region where student hostage Paul Wells was kidnapped.
An army spokesman said soldiers acting on a tip-off laid siege to Latun village, 20 miles south of Srinagar.
"The militants, who were hiding, opened fire which resulted in a fierce encounter between army and guerillas," he said.
Paul, 26, of Bracken Close, Feniscowles, Blackburn, was trekking in the Indian state of Jammu Kashmir when he was captured in July 1995.
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