India kills three Pakistani fishermen
Wednesday May 19, 2004 (0040 PST)
AHMEDABAD, May 19 (Online): The Indian navy shot dead three Pakistani
fishermen after their boat strayed into its territorial waters in the
Arabian Sea, a navy spokesman said on Tuesday. mA naval patrol fired
at a boat carrying the fishermen, about 10 nautical miles within the
Indian side of the international border line on Monday, Indian Navy
spokesman T K Singha said.
"The patrolling team fired at the fishermen as they did not pay heed
to repeated warnings and firing of flares," Singha said. Manoj
Shashidhar, superintendent of police in the western state of Gujarat,
said a fisherman with bullet wounds was admitted to hospital in the
port town of Okha, 450 km south of Ahmedabad, the state's main city,
and five were in police custody.
Fishermen from Pakistan and India often stray into each other's
territorial waters and are imprisoned, but the shooting of fishermen
was a rare incident, officials said. mIndia and Pakistan have released
hundreds of fishermen over the last year as a goodwill gesture to
improve relations with each other. Shashidhar said the bodies of the
fishermen would be handed to Pakistani authorities after formalities
were completed.
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