Indian authorities seize arms in Kashmir

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SRINAGAR, India, July 6 (UPI) -- Since 1990 the Indian military has seized enough weaponry in Kashmir "to equip two to three army divisions."

An army officer speaking on condition of anonymity said the government of Jammu and Kashmir security forces have seized 30,752 AK-series assault rifles, 11,431 pistol and revolvers, 1,027 universal machine guns, 2,262 rocket propelled grenade launchers, 391 sniper rifles and hundreds of other weapons, including light machine guns and self-loading rifles along with ammunition, 63,000 grenades and massive amounts of explosives, the Telegraph newspaper reported Thursday.

The officer said the recovered arms and ammunition was enough to equip 30,000 soldiers, remarking: "A conventional army division has around 10,000 men and officers. The seized weapons would form the basic nucleus of weapons in two to three divisions and will meet their requirement of small arms, automatic weapons or ant-tank capability."

Since 1990, 21,449 militants have been killed and 21,655 arrested in Jammu and Kashmir, while security forces have lost more than 5,300 soldiers. In the cross-fire more than 16,000 civilians have also been killed.