MUZAFFARABAD/SRINAGAR — A Pakistan-based militant group has disowned a splinter faction suspected of a string of killings in Indian-occupied Kashmir, with the rebuke followed swiftly on Friday by a string of attacks on telecoms facilities in the state's main city. The escalating rivalry is fueling concern that rogue insurgents could ratchet up tension between India and Pakistan. Hizbul Mujahideen, a Kashmiri separatist group whose leader, Syed Salahuddin, is based in Pakistan, said on Thursday it had expelled Abdul Qayoom Najar over his involvement in “gruesome murder” and the “character assassination of established pro-freedom leadership”. Indian security forces say Najar leads a breakaway group called Lashkar-e-Islam that has perpetrated a series of attacks around Sopore. — Reuters
