SNIFFER dogs and hundreds of Indian policemen were today trying to discover the fate of Blackburn student Paul Wells.
More than 500 Indian police officers followed the dogs into the mountains of Kashmir to investigate claims that Paul and three other Western hostages held for almost a year are dead.
The operation aimed to verify or dismiss a report that the hostages were killed and buried by separatist captors in a mountain forest near Magam, 40 miles south of Srinagar.
Five western security experts were part of the team, but the police officer leading the search refused to disclose their identities.
The search was launched at the request of the British, American and German governments to clear up repeated rumours about the hostages fate.
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