JAMMU

A jobless Indian devotee was admitted to hospital after he cut off his tongue and offered it to a Hindu goddess, police said on Wednesday. Doctors stitched the wound but said the man, identified as Suresh Kumar (24) may not be able to speak again.

Six people, including four children, were killed in three separate avalanches in Indian Kashmir on Thursday as thousands of motorists remained stranded on a highway due to heavy snowfall, police said. The Indian air force has started dropping food packets to more than 3 000 people stranded on a 50km stretch of highway.

Cross-border shelling between Indian and Pakistani soldiers in Kashmir and along the international frontier continued on Monday but at a lower intensity than in recent days.