1995 kidnapping of western tourists in Kashmir

1995 kidnapping in Kashmir September 2014April 2026 1995 kidnapping of western tourists in Kashmir Liddarwat, Jammu and Kashmir, India 1995 07 4 yes Kidnapping, hostage taking 6 Harkat-ul-Ansar (Al-Faran) 40 Release of Harkat-ul-Ansar leaders and other militants https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/IncidentSummary.aspx?gtdid=199507040010 Incident Summary for GTDID: 199507040010 Six western tourists and their two guides were kidnapped in the Liddarwat area of Pahalgam in the Anantnag district of Jammu and Kashmir, India on 4 July 1995 by forty militants from the Kashmiri Islamist militant organisation Harkat-ul-Ansar,groupsIncident Summary at the Global Terrorism Database. under the pseudonym of Al-Faran,Al Faran https://www.thefreedictionary.com/Al+Faran TheFreeDictionary.com WordNet, Princeton University in order to secure the release of Harkat leader Masood Azhar and other militants.Fifth Tourist Kidnapped in Kashmir, The New York Times, (9 July 1995) When their demands were not met, Norwegian Hans Christian Ostrø was beheaded on 13 August 1995. American John Childs managed to escape on 8 July, while the rest have never been found, but are presumed dead by the Government of Jammu and Kashmir issuing death certificates for the four on 28 January 2003. Background In 1989, Kashmiri militants began an Insurgency in Jammu and Kashmir.Kashmiri Rebels Decapitate Captive Norwegian Tourist, The New York Times, (14 August 1995) Harkat-ul-Ansar (HuA),Harkat-ul-Ansar was the merger of Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami and Harkat-ul-Mujahideen in 1993. Harkat-ul-Mujahideen had split from Harkat-ul-Jihad-al-Islami 1985 but re-united, they split again in 1998. Jaish-e-Muhammad was formed as a splinter group of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen by Masood Azhar in 2000.Harakat-ul-Mujahedeen. Center for International Security and Cooperation. Foreign Service Institute. Stanford University. groups an anti-Indian militant group under the similar pseudonym of Al-Hadid, had already perpetrated the 1994 kidnappings of western tourists in India in Delhi, led by Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh to secure the release of HuA leaders. Sheikh was caught and ultimately imprisoned at the Tihar Jail in Delhi.Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh https://www.counterextremism.com/extremists/ahmed-omar-saeed-sheikh 2022-08-23 Counter Extremism Project enRath Saroj Kumar 2020 Ilyas Kashmiri through the Prism of HuJI, HuA, HuM, JeM, Brigade 313 and al Qaeda https://www.academia.edu/44824474 SSRN Electronic Journal 10.2139/ssrn.3704948 240721894 1556-5068 free HuA then began using the pseudonym of Al-Faran and also committed a bus hijacking in Hapatnar in Anantnag district under that name.Al-Faran https://www.start.umd.edu/gtd/search/Results.aspx?perpetrator=1463 2022-09-08 Global Terrorism Database Kidnapping The six victims included two British tourists, Keith Mangan of Middlesbrough and Paul Wells of Blackburn; two Americans, John Childs of Simsbury, Connecticut, and Donald Hutchings of Spokane, Washington; a German student, Dirk Hasert (14 August 1969–1995); and a Norwegian actor, Hans Christian Ostrø (1968-13 August 1995). Mangan's and Hutchings' wives were left behind by the kidnappers as their husbands were abducted.Middlesbrough hostage Keith Mangan abducted in Kashmir 20 years ago today https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/middlesbrough-hostage-keith-mangan-abducted-9584023 Gazettelive.co.uk 4 July 2005 31 March 2018'New age of terror' has Spokane link https://www.spokesman.com/stories/2014/dec/21/new-age-of-terror-has-spokane-link/#/0 The Spokesman-Review 21 December 2014 31 March 2018 A note released by the kidnappers a day after the kidnappings read, "Accept our demands or face dire consequences. We are fighting against anti-Islamic forces. Western countries are anti-Islam, and America is the biggest enemy of Islam."Hijacking Revives Saga of Kashmir Kidnappings in '95, The New York Times, (31 December 1999) John Childs managed to escape and was rescued four days later.American Tricks Captors in Kashmir and Bolts to Freedom, The New York Times, (10 July 1995) Ostrø was beheaded by his abductors and his body was found near Pahalgam on 13 August 1995.Kashmiri Rebels Decapitate Captive Norwegian Tourist, The New York Times, 14 August 1995 His body was taken to AIIMS, New Delhi, where a postmortem was conducted by Professor Tirath Das Dogra, who established that the beheading was the cause of death, and reported that the words "Al Faran" were carved onto his chest.Kidnapped book review, The New York Times, 9 August 1998 The kidnappers demanded the release of Pakistani militant Masood Azhar, who had been imprisoned by India, and 20 other prisoners. Several national and international organisations issued appeals to Al-Faran to release the tourists. Representatives of the embassies of the victims' countries also visited Kashmir frequently to seek their release, without success. In December 1995, the kidnappers left a note that they were no longer holding the men hostage.Worry Rising For Hostages Seized in India, The New York Times, (13 December 1995) Mangan,https://www.gazettelive.co.uk/news/teesside-news/middlesbrough-hostage-keith-mangan-abducted-9584023 Middlesbrough hostage Keith Mangan abducted in Kashmir 20 years ago today 4 July 2015 Wells, Hutchings, and Hasert have never been found and are presumed to have been killed. In May 1996, a captured militant told Indian investigators and FBI agents that he had heard that all four hostages had been shot dead on 13 December 1995, nine days after an operation by Indian security forces that killed four of the original hostage-takers, including the man said to have been leading them, Abdul Hamid Turki.Report: Spokane man killed in India : m.kitsapsun.com : Kitsap, Washington, News, Business, Homes, Jobs, Cars & Information http://m.kitsapsun.com/news/1996/Dec/23/report-spokane-man-killed-in-india/ https://web.archive.org/web/20110713154404/http://m.kitsapsun.com/news/1996/Dec/23/report-spokane-man-killed-in-india/ 13 July 2011 live 13 July 2009 dmy https://www.nytimes.com/1997/07/06/world/no-answers-for-wife-of-us-hostage-in-kashmir.html?pagewanted=1 The New York Times John F. Burns No Answers for Wife of U.S. Hostage in Kashmir 6 July 1997 Journalists Adrian Levy and Catherine Scott-Clark claim however, in their book The Meadow, that the remaining hostages were sold from Al-Faran to Ghulam Nabi Mir, also known as Azad Nabi, who held them for months before shooting them dead on 24 December 1995.IndoPak: New book claims India-backed group killed kidnapped Kashmir tourists https://theworld.org/stories/2016/07/31/indopak-new-book-claims-india-backed-group-killed-kidnapped-kashmir-tourists Public Radio International 3 April 2012 31 March 2018 Ghulam Nabi Mir was at the time leader of pro-Indian Islamic guerrilla group Muslim Mujaheddin, a faction of Hizbul Mujahideen, who organized themselves into the All Jammu & Kashmir Patriotic Peoples Front in 1995 or 1996 to contest local elections.Jammu & Kashmir - Political Parties http://www.peacekashmir.org/jammu-kashmir/political-parties.htm peacekashmir.org 31 March 2018 24 January 2017 https://web.archive.org/web/20170124104445/http://www.peacekashmir.org/jammu-kashmir/political-parties.htm deadJolt to counter insurgency https://www.milligazette.com/Archives/01072001/13.htm The Milli Gazette 1 July 2001 31 March 2018Top counter-insurgent killed in J&K https://www.rediff.com/news/2001/jun/16jk1.htm Rediff.com 16 June 2001 31 March 2018 Al-Faran has been determined to be a pseudonym of Harkat-ul-Ansar;groups however HuA has denied having any ties to it.http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2012/04/19/did-pro-india-militias-kill-western-tourists-in-kashmir/ https://web.archive.org/web/20120421000509/http://blogs.reuters.com/india/2012/04/19/did-pro-india-militias-kill-western-tourists-in-kashmir/ dead 21 April 2012 Did pro-India militias kill Western tourists in Kashmir? Reuters 18 April 2012 16 May 2012 Rescue attempt According to the US-based Terrorism Research Center, Norwegian Forsvarets Spesialkommando (FSK) made an attempt to locate and rescue the Norwegian hostage Ostrø. "In 1995, a small force from the unit was deployed in the Kashmir region of India in an attempt to find and free a Norwegian citizen who was held hostage and later beheaded by the Al-Faran guerrillas." The attempt was not successful. The Terrorism Research Center presented the information about FSK's missions in Kashmir without prejudice. The Ministry of Defence (Norway) has never admitted such an action had taken place.http://www.vg.no/nyheter/utenriks/artikkel.php?artid=1588113 -Spesialkommandoen skulle befri Osterø Aftermath The kidnappings were widely covered by western press and helped bring terrorism in Kashmir to the international communities attention. Donald Hutchings' wife Jane Schelly made repeated trips to the region to try to get some answers in vain.No Answers for Wife of U.S. Hostage in Kashmir, The New York Times, (6 July 1997) In 1997, Indian police exhumed a body that was initially thought to be of British tourist Paul Wells.Exhumed Body Is of British Hostage, India Confirms, Los Angeles Times, (6 January 2000) However, subsequent forensic tests showed that the body did not belong to any of the tourists.Tests dispute Kashmir body identity, BBC, (27 March 2000) Masood Azhar was subsequently released in exchange for passengers aboard hijacked Indian Airlines Flight 814 along with Ahmed Omar Saeed Sheikh. Sheikh was arrested in 2002 and was later tried and convicted for the kidnapping and beheading of Daniel Pearl in Karachi. Amjad Farooqi, accused of being one of the kidnappers, was reported killed in Pakistan in September 2004.Paper. South Asia Analysis Group.http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/655/html Al-Qaida and the Pakistani Harakat Movement: Reflections and Questions about the pre-2001 Period | Rassler | Perspectives on Terrorism 10 April 2018 10 April 2018 https://web.archive.org/web/20180410175916/http://www.terrorismanalysts.com/pt/index.php/pot/article/view/655/html usurped See also Ghazi Baba, Pakistani militant, suspected of involvement in the kidnapping 1994 kidnappings of western tourists in India Murders of Louisa Vesterager Jespersen and Maren Ueland, Danish and Norwegian tourists killed by Islamists in Morocco in 2018 Decapitation in Islam Islamic terrorism Notes References 30em Bibliography "Erneut Urlauber in Kaschmir vermisst", Süddeutsche Zeitung, 12 July 1995. "Entführer in Kaschmir drohen erneut mit Geiselmord". Associated Press Worldstream, 11 July 1995. Qaiser Mirza, "American Flees Captors in Kashmir", Chicago Sun-Times, 10 July 1995. "Kaschmir-Geiseln wurden in Dorf gesichtet", Associated Press, 31 December 1995. "Indien. Ein Grab im Dschungel", Focus Magazin, 30 December 1996. "Western Hostages probably killed, says top Indian security official", Associated Press, 27 November 1998. Qaiser Mirza, "Kashmir police say skeleton may be of a foreign hostage", Associated Press, 25 October 2000. "Indian police exhume body, believed to be of Western hostage", BBC Summary of World Broadcasts, 27 October 2000. "Kashmir issues death certificates for Western hostages kidnapped in 1995", Global News Wire – Asia Africa Intelligence Wire, 28 January 2003. Izhar Wani, "American Beheading in Iraq revives memories of similar execution in Kashmir", Agence France Presse, 12 May 2004. Qaiser Mirza, "Kashmiri Separatists Kill One Western Hostage, Threaten Other Four", Associated Press, 13 August 1995. Dirk Hasert, Geisel in Kaschmir. Berliner Zeitung, 16 August 1995. Warten auf ein Zeichen / Seit einem Jahr schweigen die Entführer in Kaschmir. Berliner Zeitung, 27 November 1996. American tricks captors in Kashmir and bolts to freedom https://www.nytimes.com/1995/07/10/nyregion/american-tricks-captors-in-kashmir-and-bolts-to-freedom.html The New York Times 1995-07-10 2021-12-08 0362-4331 en-US Doreen Carvajal https://www.vg.no/i/7l03gv -Spesialkommandoen skulle befri Osterø vg.no nb 23 September 2001 8 December 2021 https://www.tb.no/5-76-1455614 (+) Janne Hoem får Hans Christian Ostrøs minnepris: – Han satte uforglemmelige spor Vatn Vegar Tønsbergs Blad no 23 November 2020 8 December 2021 External links Incident Summary at the Global Terrorism Database Ransom, The Untold Story of International Kidnapping by Ann Hagedorn Auerbach- Chapter 1 In memory of Hans Christian Ostro, Daily Excelsior, (9 August 2001) Al Faran and the Hostage Crisis in Kashmir, SAPRA India Foundation, (10 March 1996) Profile: Maulana Masood Azhar, BBC, (16 December 2002) Kaschmir: Terror im Paradies.August 2026 InternetArchiveBot , FOCUS Online, (28 August 1995) Kaschmirgeiseln: Seit zweieinhalb Jahren entführt, Rhein-Zeitung (17 November 1997) https://www.mdr.de/mdr-info/3136230.html 8. Juli 1995: Dirk Hasert in Kaschmir entführt 6 July 2006 MDR.DE. Category:1990s in Jammu and Kashmir Category:1990s missing person cases Category:1995 murders in India Category:Islamic terrorist incidents in 1995 Category:July 1995 crimes Category:July 1995 in India Category:Kashmir conflict Category:Islamic terrorism in India Category:Hostage taking in India Category:Terrorist incidents in Jammu and Kashmir Category:Rao administration Category:Kidnappings by Islamists Category:Kidnapping in the 1990s Category:Kidnappings in India Category:Islamism-related beheadings Category:Missing person cases in India Category:Terrorist incidents in India in 1995 Category:Attacks on tourists in Kashmir