Indian Internet and e-mail users have launched a global, cyber campaign to collect funds for the country's soldiers who have died fighting in the disputed Himalayan province of Kashmir.

E-mail users in the country have received chain mails initiated both within India and outside and titled "Can You Help", "Motherland", "Vande Mataram" (Salutations to the Motherland) and "Home they brought the Warriors Dead".

The e-mails contained emotional details of the military operations in the Drass-Kargil-Batalik sectors in India's Kashmir and the "valour and sacrifice" of Indian soldiers.

The Indian army and air force have been involved in fierce fighting in the disputed territory.

India has nearly 300,000 registered Internet accounts and thousands of others without accounts access the Web through cybercafes and Internet kiosks in major cities. In addition, thousands of Indians living abroad, mostly in the US, are hooked up to the World Wide Web.