SRINAGAR. Sept 8: Ke «h mi ri Muslim militants st-^ed attacks on Indian troops Aere today to mark the anni* f > -sary of the death of Kashr rn first Chief Minister after independence in 1947 (police said, reports AFP.

Ten people were killed in secessionist-linked violence in the strife-torn Kashmir valley on Wednesday, police said, but no casualties were reported in today s attacks by Muslim guerillas on the security forces.

Muslim militants fired on patrolling Indian troops and their camps at several places in this state summer capital today to mark the 12th anniversary of the death of Sheikh Mohammed Abdullah, the Lion of Kashmir.'

Abdullah earned the sobriquet for freeing Kashmiris from the despotic rule of a

Hindu Maharajah in 1947 but he is reviled by many Kashmiri Muslims today for allegedly selling out the Muslim-major-ity state to predominantly Hindu India.

Police said Abdullah's family prayed today at his mausoleum bordering Srinagar's Dal Lake under tight security and heavy gunfire from militants. The marble tomb has seen damaged twice by rebels.

The surrounding area, including the Hazratbal Mosque. Kashmir's holiest Islamic shrine, was cordoned off for search operations, he added.

Twenty-two people including a leader of an umbrella body grouping Muslim militants and politicians, were ar rested overnight to pre empt violence in the troubled Himalayan region claimed by both India and Pakistan, police said.