Kashmir Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah on Thursday urged New Delhi to send more troops to the Valley to quell a rebellion.
"I will urge the home minister (Lal Krishna Advani) to send more troops to my state to quell the rising militant violence," Abdullah said.
Abdullah said he was perturbed by this week's massacre of seven hindus and five muslims in the mountains of the southern Jammu region.
"We need more troops to protect innocent lives in the higher reaches of Kashmir," Abdullah said.
"This is the demand of the people living in these vulnerable areas," he said. "We can't let these people die and fall prey to the militants."

He said the troops will have to pacify the sensitive areas by launching search operations and erecting cordons.
Village security forces, formed in the mid-1990s for self-defence, have demanded sophisticated arms, saying the obsolete 303 rifles provided to them are no match for the militants' Kalashnikovs.
Abdullah said he would take up the village forces' demand with New Delhi. Bureau Report