Dar Yasin / AP

Indian policemen take cover during a gunbattle in Srinagar, the capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir, on March 13, 2013. A team of militants stormed a paramilitary camp Wednesday morning, leaving five soldiers and two militants dead, a police official said.

Dar Yasin / AP

Indian policemen and paramilitary soldiers react during a gunbattle in Srinagar on March 13, 2013.

Reuters reports — Two militants hiding automatic rifles and grenades in cricket equipment opened fire on a paramilitary camp on the Indian side of Kashmir on Wednesday, killing five Indian personnel and wounding five, police said.

The militants were killed in a gunfight at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) base just outside the restive city of Srinagar, which has been under curfew for much of the last few weeks following protests and clashes with police.

Local media reports said that Hizbul Mujahideen, the bitterly disputed region's largest militant group, had claimed responsibility for the attack, in which three civilians were also wounded.

Police said the gunmen approached the camp by mingling with children playing cricket in a nearby field, hiding their weapons in the cricket gear they were carrying. Once at the camp, they shot a sentry dead and then fired indiscriminately into the base. Read the full story.

EPA

Indian paramilitary soldiers carry a wounded colleague on March 13, 2013.

Manan Vatsyayana / AFP - Getty Images

Media representatives surround an ambulance as it leaves the main entrance of Tihar Jail in New Delhi on Monday.

NEW DELHI -- The alleged ringleader in the gang-rape and death of a young Indian woman in December hanged himself in jail on Monday, officials said, a dramatic twist in a case that has provoked outrage across India.

Ram Singh's lawyer said his client had been composed and calm when he spoke to him on Friday and that there were other inmates in his cell in New Delhi's Tihar jail, raising questions about whether it was a suicide and how it could have gone unnoticed by staff in India's highest security prison.

The lawyer and a prison official said Singh had not been on suicide watch.

Police have described Singh as the ringleader of five men and a juvenile on trial for the December 16 attack on the 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist on a bus in the Indian capital. Singh was driving the bus.

All six accused have pleaded not guilty to rape and murder.

The assault triggered nationwide protests, a toughening of rape laws and an intense debate about rampant crime against women in India.

Tihar prison authorities ordered a magisterial inquiry after Singh was found hanging in his cell at around 5 a.m. (7 p.m. ET Sunday), prison spokesman Sunil Gupta said.

Singh's lawyer, V.K. Anand, told Reuters that his client did not appear to be distressed when he spoke to him on Friday.

"I believe he was satisfied with the way the trial was proceeding because we had a very strong case against the prosecution's claims," he said.

"This is not suicide, this is something else. I know he had a few complaints of jail authorities torturing him, but nothing that would make him take his own life. We can't rule out foul play. Nothing is adding up," he said.

Manish Swarup / AP

The mother of Ram Singh cries as she speaks to journalists inside the family's home in New Delhi on Monday.

Anand has previously always denied that his client was being maltreated in prison. He did not elaborate on the "torture".

Singh had been kept in a cell with other inmates, he said.

A former director of the jail, Kiran Bedi, said Singh should have been kept isolated from the main prison population.

The trial of the five adult men started last month while the juvenile's trial began last week. Ram Singh's brother Mukesh Singh, gym assistant Vinay Sharma, bus cleaner Akshay Kumar Singh and fruit vendor Pawan Kumar are the other men on trial.

Under Indian law, the juvenile cannot be named.

The attack generated headlines around the world, but the case has since largely disappeared from public view, in large part because authorities have barred reporting on the trial, which was due to resume in a fast-track court on Monday.

Police allege the six attacked the woman and a male companion on the bus as the couple returned home after watching a movie on December 16. The woman was repeatedly raped and tortured with a metal bar. The couple were also severely beaten before being thrown onto a road.

The woman died of internal injuries in a Singapore hospital two weeks later.

The police report used to charge the accused draws a picture of Ram Singh as the ringleader. On the night of December 16, the accused gathered at his house for dinner, where he came up with the plan of taking the bus out to look for a victim to rape, the report said.

The police say they found him sitting in the blood-stained school bus, wearing a bloodied T-shirt, the morning after the crime. A DNA test revealed that the blood belonged to the rape victim, the report said.

Related:

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This story was originally published on Sun Mar 10, 2013 11:22 PM EDT

Altaf Qadri / AP

Protesters near the Indian parliament Thursday complain that a new sexual violence law is inadequate. Their signs call for the removal of the deputy chairman of the parliament's upper house, P.J. Kurien, who is facing rape allegations.

NEW DELHI -- Police were searching villages in western India on Friday for suspects in the rape and killing of three young sisters, as Indians still angry over the fatal gang rape of a woman on a New Delhi bus in December face another heinous sexual attack.

The bodies of the sisters — ages 7, 9 and 11 — were found Feb. 16 in a village well in Bhandara district in Maharashtra after they had gone missing from school two days earlier, said police officer Abhinav Deshmukh. The area is more than 600 miles south of New Delhi, the capital.

The victims' mother said police did not take the case seriously and did nothing for several days until villagers held protests.

Deshmukh said Friday that 10 teams of 30 investigators were working on the case and that he was confident they would find the killers soon.

Police first dismissed the deaths as accidental, the Press Trust of India news agency reported. The girls' mother accused police of a shoddy investigation and said they did nothing for two days. Enraged villagers forced shops to close, burned tires and blocked a national highway passing in the area for hours earlier this week, demanding justice.

Police eventually registered a case of rape and murder after a post-mortem of the girls found that they had been sexually abused and brutally killed, PTI said.

One police officer has been suspended for not acting promptly, Indian Heavy Industries Minister Praful Patel, who represents Bhandara district in Parliament, said Thursday.

Cabinet Minister Manish Tewari called the killings a "very, very heinous assault" and said Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was sending 1 million rupees ($18,300) to the girls' family.

The case has horrified Indians two months after they were outraged by the gang rape and killing of a young woman on a moving New Delhi bus.

The gang rape sparked nationwide protests about India's treatment of women and spurred the government to hurry through a new package of laws to protect them.

The gang rape victim and her male friend, who also was badly beaten up in the attack, were dumped naked on the roadside, and the woman died from her injuries two weeks later in a Singapore hospital. Five men are being tried on rape and murder charges in that case, while a sixth, who is underage, is in juvenile court.

A new law enacted by the government has increased the prison sentences for rape from the existing seven to 10 years to a maximum of 20 years. It also provides for the death penalty in extreme cases of rape that result in death or leave the victim in a coma.

Related:

Report: Six held over another bus gang rape

PhotoBlog: India considers tougher punishment for sex crimes

Video: Father of rape victim recalls daughter's tears

HYDERABAD, India -- A pair of bombs exploded Thursday evening in a crowded shopping area in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, killing at least 11 people and wounding 50 more in the worst bombing in the country in more than a year, officials said.

The blasts occurred about two minutes apart outside a movie theater and a bus station, police said. Storefronts were shattered and television footage showed the wounded being rushed to hospitals.

"This is a dastardly attack, the guilty will not go unpunished," Prime Minister Manmohan Singh said. He appealed to the public to remain calm.

The bombs were attached to two bicycles about 150 meters (500 feet) apart in the district of Dilsukh Nagar, Home Minister Sushilkumar Shinde said. The district is a usually crowded shopping area near a residential neighborhood.

Eight people died in one explosion and three in the other, Shinde told reporters in the Indian capital of New Delhi.

Mahesh Kumar, a 21-year-old student, was heading home from a tutoring class when a bomb went off.

"I heard a huge sound and something hit me, I fell down, and somebody brought me to the hospital," said Kumar, who suffered shrapnel wounds.

Hyderabad, a city of 10 million, is a hub of India's information technology industry and has a mixed population of Muslims and Hindus.

An injured person is attended to at a hospital after a bomb blast in Hyderabad, India, on Feb. 21. A pair of bombs exploded Thursday evening in a crowded shopping area in the southern Indian city of Hyderabad, killing several people and wounding many in the worst bombing in the country in more than a year, officials said.

The explosions Thursday were the first major bomb attack to hit India since a September 2011 blast outside the High Court in New Delhi killed 13 people. The government has been heavily criticized for its failure to arrest the masterminds behind previous bombings.

Home Secretary R.K. Singh said officials from the National Investigation Agency and commandos of the National Security Guards were leaving New Delhi for Hyderabad.

India has been in a state of alert since Mohammed Afzal Guru, a Kashmiri, was hanged in a New Delhi jail nearly two weeks ago. Guru had been convicted of involvement in a 2001 attack on India's Parliament that killed 14 people, including five gunmen.

Many in Indian-ruled Kashmir believe Guru did not receive a fair trial, and the secrecy with which the execution was carried out fueled anger in a region where anti-India sentiment runs deep.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Hindu holy man Baba Sanjay poses before and after he had his head and face shaved as part of an initiation ritual where he was to become a Naga Sadhu.

Kevin Frayer, a photographer with The Associated Press, took a series of photos of Hindu holy men before and after they had their beards and hair shaved off as part of the initiation ritual to become Naga Sadhus — naked holy men — at the Maha Kumbh Festival in Allahabad, India.

The initiation of new Naga Sadhus can only be performed at the Kumbh Mela, which occurs once every 12 years and sees millions of devotees converging at the confluence of three holy rivers: the Ganges, the Yamuna and the mythical Saraswati.

Editor's note: Photos taken on Feb. 13, 2013 and made available to NBC News today.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Baba Ramshwal.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Brihaspst Giri.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Baba Vinod.

Kevin Frayer / AP

Baba Giri.

AFP - Getty Images, file

Kashmir's first all-girl rock band Pragaash perform at the annual 'Battle of the Bands' in Srinagar on Dec. 23, 2012.

EDITOR'S NOTE: NBC News obscured the faces in this photo to protect the band members' identities because of safety concerns.

The only all-girl band in India’s troubled Kashmir region has split up after a controversial Muslim cleric issued a fatwa against them.

However, the cleric -- Grand Mufti Bashiruddin Ahmad – is now facing a backlash with a leading human-rights lawyer planning to take him to court over his claim that the band, Pragaash, was un-Islamic and other pronouncements.

After the fatwa, the three teenage girls received online threats prompting police to arrest three people, according to several reports including one by BBC News.

Omar Abdullah, chief minister of Jammu and Kashmir, said on Twitter that he was “glad” that arrests had been made.

In an interview with India’s NDTV, a band member named as Aneeka, who is still in high school, insisted that “nothing has forced us to quit.”

“We quit for the happiness of our people. As the grand mufti said, it is un-Islamic ... that’s why we quit,” she said. NDTV pixilated her face when the interview was broadcast.

“Mufti … is a saint. He knows about our religion and must be respected,” Aneeka added.

'They feel very harassed'
However, for human rights lawyer Parvez Imroz, of the Jammu & Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, the fatwa against Pragaash was the last straw and he is now planning to take Ahmad to court.

“The lives of these girls were threatened. They feel very harassed,” he said.

Imroz, who is Muslim, said the grand mufti had appointed himself to the role and set up his own “supreme court.”

Ahmad's comments about Pragaash were the latest in a number of “very controversial” fatwas over the last few years, Imroz said, including calling for Americans to leave Kashmir and for Christians to appear in his court.

“We are filing the case because he’s claiming to be some ‘grand mufti.’ Under no law is there any such title,” the lawyer said. “Kashmir is very tolerant. Music … is part of our culture. These girls, they have a right to do it, but I’m telling you we are raising the bigger question about this institution in the society, this self-appointed priest and mufti who has been giving a very reactionary … view of Islam.”

Imroz said he wanted the court to rule that Ahmad had no legal standing, describing him as a “non-entity.”

Kashmir is claimed by India and Pakistan, which have fought two wars over the region. It is the only state in India where the majority of people are Muslims.

In comments posted on NDTV’s website, some expressed their anger at the criticism of the band.

“We're heading in prehistoric era thanks to morons,” one said.

“It's really disheartening to see such narrow views are still being propagated in the country,” another added.

Related:

India alleges Pakistan cross-border attack was 'pre-planned,' warns of retaliation

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NEW DELHI - The trial of five men charged with gang-raping and murdering a young woman on a bus in New Delhi opened on Tuesday with closed-door testimony from her male friend who appeared at court in a wheelchair, still bearing the scars of injuries from the attack.

Anindito Mukherjee / EPA

A Delhi police van arrives at the Delhi Saket court in New Delhi, India, Tuesday.

The 28-year-old software engineer, who may not be identified, is the prosecution's star witness in a case that has triggered nationwide protests, an intense debate about rampant crime against women in India and tougher anti-rape laws.

The five accused are Vinay Sharma, a gym assistant, Ram Singh, the bus driver, his brother Mukesh Singh, bus cleaner Akshay Kumar Singh and fruit vendor Pawan Kumar.

They have pleaded not guilty to charges of rape and murder. A sixth accused is being tried separately as a juvenile.

Police allege the six attacked the 23-year-old trainee physiotherapist and her friend on the bus as the couple returned home from watching a movie on Dec. 16.

The woman was repeatedly raped and tortured with a metal bar. The couple were also severely beaten before being thrown onto a road.

The woman died of internal injuries in a Singapore hospital two weeks later.

Victim's father: Hang them
As the trial got under way, the victim's father made a surprise appearance at a news conference organized by the main opposition Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) to call for his daughter's attackers to be hanged.

At one stage, the friend, defense lawyers and some policemen moved from the courtroom to a courtyard where the bus on which police say the attack took place was parked.

Journalists saw some of them board the vehicle, which was white with tinted windows and orange curtains. Above the windshield was painted "Praise the Goddess" in Hindi.

The victim's friend was not seen boarding the bus. The friend's father said later it was the second time his son had seen the bus since the attack.

In his statement to police after the assault, the friend said their attackers had asked "where are you going with a girl so late at night?" before launching a furious assault in which he was beaten with a metal rod and his clothes ripped off.

While he was being beaten, the woman was repeatedly raped, he said, according to a police charge sheet seen by Reuters.

The prosecution says articles stolen from the couple, including their cellphones, rings and debit cards were found in raids conducted on the homes of the accused. DNA evidence and bloodstained clothes also form part of their case.

Defense lawyers say they will highlight what they say are discrepancies in the account given by the victim's friend.

The five men are being tried in a special fast-track court opposite the shopping mall where the victim and her friend went to watch the film "Life of Pi" before boarding the bus.

About 30 policemen were deployed outside the courtroom on Tuesday as the five accused arrived wearing scarves or handkerchiefs to mask their faces. 

Related:

Indian cabinet moves to toughen laws on rape, crimes against women

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