Of the estimated 1,500 militants fighting in Kashmir, nearly 850 belonged to the group, he said.However, fighting with smaller groups continued, army officials and militants said.Smaller separatist organizations, Al-Umar and Jaishe-e-Mohammed, claimed Sunday they attacked Indian security forces in the Kashmir valley over the past two days, killing at least three government soldiers and wounding five others."No one will be allowed to sell out the sacrifices made by the martyrs," warned the Al-Umar group in a statement Sunday.A 1972 cease-fire line divides the mountainous province of Kashmir between India and Pakistan. India controls two-thirds of Kashmir, Pakistan the rest, and both sides claim the entire territory.India's Interior Ministry on Friday invited all militant groups and political leaders in Kashmir to hold discussions with the government.Leaders of several of Kashmir's political, religious and separatist organizations have taken a softer stance recently, raising hopes of peace in the frontier state after 11 years of bloodshed.Until now, the All Party Hurriyat Conference has demanded that three-way peace talks be held between Indian and Pakistani officials and Kashmiri groups. India refuses to allow Pakistan to get involved in discussions on Kashmir's future.On Saturday, Abdul Ghani Bhatt, the new APHC chairman, said the Hurriyat was prepared to meet representatives of New Delhi and Islamabad separately but simultaneously to solve the Kashmir dispute.The Indian government also has facilitated a dialogue with militant groups by dropping its insistence on holding talks within the ambit of the constitution - a position that has been unacceptable to Kashmiri groups.Major Pakistan-based guerrilla groups, the Lashkar-e Toiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammed, the Harkat-ul Mujahedeen and Al Badr, have vowed to continue fighting the Indian forces in Kashmir.Daily battles between the guerrillas and security forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir have left more than 16,000 people dead since 1989.. North and South Korea took another step toward reconciliation Sunday, agreeing to hold regular high-level talks on bringing peace to their divided peninsula. North and South Korea took another step toward reconciliation Sunday, agreeing to hold regular high-level talks on bringing peace to their divided peninsula. Negotiators from both countries also came close to agreeing to reopen border liaison offices as part of efforts to implement an accord reached at a June summit of their leaders, a South Korean official said.The progress was made at Cabinet-level talks which opened in Seoul on Sunday. The two sides planned to wrap up the talks on Monday by issuing a joint statement."The ministerial talks will keep continuing," said Kim Sun-kyu, a South Korean delegate."Both sides have found that their positions have many things in common but some working details need adjustment in their language before an announcement," said Kim, who serves as vice minister of culture and tourism.If reopened, the border liaison offices would serve as a permanent channel of government dialogue. They were shut down in 1996 because of political tension after a four-year run.After the first of two rounds of talks Sunday, chief North Korean delegate Jon Kum Jin was upbeat."I have a firm conviction that we can produce good results," he said in a luncheon speech.The South Korean official, Kim, said both sides agreed to commemorate the June summit with a week of programs around Aug.

15, which marks Korean independence from Japanese colonialism in 1945.Both Koreas usually mark the day with programs dedicated to unification. This year, they will exchange 100 people each for temporary family reunions, the first since 1985.Negotiators did not say whether they discussed military and economic exchanges and cooperation, or a proposed visit to Seoul by North Korean leader Kim Jong Il.The negotiators had vowed to uphold the spirit of the historic inter-Korean summit and make efforts to bring peace to the world's last Cold War frontier.To avoid political friction, no flags or other national emblems were used for the talks.The five-member North Korean delegation, accompanied by 13 assistants and seven journalists, flew to Seoul via Beijing on Saturday.The Koreas have been bitter enemies since the division of their peninsula into the communist North and the pro-Western South in 1945. Their three-year war in the early 1950s ended without a peace treaty.The last time a senior North Korean delegation visited Seoul was in 1992, when the prime ministers of the two sides visited each other's capital for reconciliation talks. Those negotiations were overshadowed by political tension.This time, there are fresh hopes for peace following the June summit, during which leaders of the two sides agreed to work toward reconciliation and reunification.The summit agreements call for wide-ranging economic and other exchanges.

The Koreas already have stopped propaganda broadcasts directed at each other.Despite the conciliatory mood, South Korean President Kim Dae-jung has said reunification could take two or three decades and has warned his military to stay on alert in close cooperation with the 37,000 U.S. troops stationed here.The North's missile programs are a source of great concern in the region and are a major reason for Washington's decision to consider whether to build a national missile defense system.U.S Secretary of State Madeleine Albright raised U.S. concerns at a meeting last week with North Korean Foreign Minister Paek Nam during an Asian regional security forum in Bangkok, Thailand.. Honeytrap hitsquads of seductive female agents are swarming out of Iraq, sent abroad by Saddam Hussein to kill his opponents. Honeytrap hitsquads of seductive female agents are swarming out of Iraq, sent abroad by Saddam Hussein to kill his opponents. The Foreign Office has confirmed that the specially-trained assassins, who are chosen for their looks and loyalty to the regime, are sent from Iraq to home in on their targets - a type of agent traditionally known as a honeytrap.According to reports, many of the women have been sent on missions to Britain, Germany, the Netherlands and Sweden, and were originally belly dancers and actresses.A Foreign Office spokesman said there had been incidents of this sort in the past but there was no known similar activity at the moment.However the FO is remaining vigilant to any possibility of any activity in Britain as there had been incidents in the past both here and in other western countries.According to the reports the women, complete with false identities, are moved to support centres across Europe before being posted to meet their final targets.In recent years London has become a focus for anti-Saddam protests, making it a likely area for these agents to work..