Seven killed in J&K

SRINAGAR: Seven people were killed in fresh fighting between soldiers and separatist militants in Kashmir, police said on Thursday. An Indian army soldier and three Islamic militants were killed in two clashes on Wednesday in Poonch and Kupwara, a police spokesman said. Also on Wednesday, suspected rebels abducted a policeman and an Indian army soldier in Doda and Rajouri districts and later killed them, police said. Police also recovered the bullet-ridden body of a high school student in Anantnag district. — AFP

Reward for prisoners

JAKARTA: The Indonesian government will halve the sentences of some 300 prisoners in tsunami-hit Aceh province who chose not to escape after their jails were destroyed in the disaster, a minister said on Thursday. “There will about 300 prisoners in Aceh who will be given special sentence cuts because they are deemed to have high integrity as they reported back after the tsunami,” Justice and Human Rights Minister Hamid Awaluddin said. — AFP