doc_text: Moslem militants armed with automatic rifles shot and killed two unarmed paramilitary soldiers on Thursday in Srinagar, the flashpoint of a violent separatist campaign, officials said.
  Witnesses said a cigarette vendor also was killed in the attack, which occurred outside the vendor's kiosk in the Chanpora suburb of the city.
  A bystander was injured, said the witnesses, who spoke on condition of anonymity.
  The deaths brought to 81 the number of people killed since Jan. 20 in clashes between security forces and Moslem militants fighting for secession of the Moslem-dominated Kashmir region from Hindu-majority India.
  Most victims have been protesters shot while defying a curfew imposed Jan. 20 when government forces launched a crackdown.
  A senior police official, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said militants exploded bombs in a government building and a government-run bank in Srinagar's outskirts Thursday, causing severe damage.
  There were no casualties.
  The official also blamed militants for a fire that broke out in a downtown shopping center.
  No casualties were reported in the blaze.
  Security was strengthened across Srinagar after the incidents.
  New roadblocks were set up and more paramilitary troops were deployed on the streets, the official said.
  Some soldiers patrolled in trucks while others perched with machine guns on the sides of roads.
  A curfew that was to have begun at 6 p.m. instead took effect in the afternoon in three areas of the city after the shootings.
  The two paramilitary Border Security Force officers were shot with Chinese-designed AK-47 rifles from close range as they walked from their camp toward the cigarette kiosk, 100 yards from the camp's gate, said Ashok Patel, inspector-general of the Border Security Force.
  He said the men were unarmed and were not in uniform when attacked.
  It was the first reported slaying by Moslem militants of paramilitary troops.
  The Border Security Force, known to be a more disciplined and tougher force that the state constabulary, is normally deployed on international borders but has been increasingly used to put down the Kashmir secessionist movement.
  State police began preparations to counter violence Friday, the Moslem sabbath.
  On past sabbath days, speeches have been broadcast from mosques urging people to fight for Kashmir's independence.
  Gov. Jagmohan, known to be a tough administrator who ordered the Jan. 20 crackdown, on Thursday appealed for peace in Kashmir, the Himalayan valley once popular for its gardens, lakes and apple orchards.
  "Let us impress once again on our young brothers to see the futility of the cult of guns and understand the magnitude of all-round misery that it has caused," he said in a letter released by the state government.
  Jagmohan, a Hindu who uses only one name, wrote the letter to the father of a Moslem youth who was killed in a bomb explosion in a shopping complex on Wednesday.
  Kashmir was divided between India and Pakistan after the two countries were partitioned on gaining independence from Britain in 1947.
  Srinagar and the surrounding areas of the valley became part of Jammu-Kashmir state, India's only predominantly Moslem state.
  Sixty-four percent of the state's 5 million people are Moslems, but nationwide, Moslems make up 12 percent of India's population of 880 million.
  Kashmiri militants had earlier campaigned for union with Pakistan, which claims Kashmir because of its predominant Moslem population, but now they demand independence and the status of a neutral country.
summary_text: Moslem separatists, armed with Chinese-designed AK-47 rifles, killed two Indian paramilitary troops on Thursday as violence continues in the India state of Jammu- Kashmir.
  This was the first reported slaying of paramilitary troops, but 81 people have been killed since clashes with Moslem militants began on January 20.
  The militants reportedly exploded bombs in a bank and a government building near Srinagar, also on Thursday.
  Security was strengthened, as troops prepare for the Moslem Sabbath tomorrow.
  The governor has appealed for peace.
  The separatists are seeking independence from Hindu-majority India for the predominately Moslem state.
  Kashmir was divided between Pakistan and India in 1947.