THE FOREIGN Office has confirmed that Indian authorities have been involved in a bloody shootout with Al-Faran rebels holding student Paul Wells.

It is believed the four Western tourists held by the Kashmiri separatists came through the incident unscathed before being handed over to another group or simply abandoned in the mountains. The Indian authorities came to this conclusion after interrogating three members of the group that seized the tourists on July 4.

Paul , 24, of Bracken Close, Feniscowles, Blackburn, and Keith Mangan, 33, from Middlesbrough, were kidnapped while on a trekking expedition in southern Kashmir.

The spokesman said the three guerrillas were captured in a clash with Indian security forces.

"Interrogation of the three apprehended mercenaries revealed that the Al-faran has presumably abandoned the four foreign hostages somewhere in the high ranges or maybe handed them over to some local militant group," defence ministry spokesman Hariharan said.

The other two hostages are American Donald Hutchings and German Dirk Hasert.

Al-Faran has demanded the release of 15 jailed guerrillas including three Pakistan nationals from the Harkatul Ansar military group. The Indian spokesman said a leader of Al-Faran, Abdul Hamid Turki, was one of five guerrillas killed in the clash at Darbana in Anantnag district in the south of the Kashmir valley.

A communique for the Pakistan-based Harkat Ul Ansar guerrilla group said earlier in the week that the guerrillas killed in the clash came from its ranks.

Some Indian officials believe Al-Faran, which was unknown before the four hostages were taken in July, is a front for Harkat.

India has refused to bow to the guerrillas' demands and ruled out a rescue operation for fear of endangering the hostage's lives.

Al-Faran contacts Indian authorities from time to time to press its demands, but there has been no communication for almost two weeks.

"For the last 13 days there has been no contact but we have not given up hope. We are still expecting that Al-Faran will talk to us and end the crisis before Christmas," an Indian official dealing with hostage crisis in Srinagar told Reuters.

Today Paul's parents Bob and Dianne said their worst fear was that the captives might become caught up in the cross-fire of a rescue attempt.

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