Four suspected rebels killed in Indian Kashmir

AFP, SRINAGAR, India: Soldiers killed four suspected rebels and captured another during a day-long gun battle in Indian Kashmir near the border dividing the region between India and Pakistan, a defence spokesman said yesterday.
Soldiers detected the group of militants in Uri, 100 kilometres (62 miles) southwest of Indian Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, on Wednesday morning, triggering a fire fight that ended yesterday afternoon.
“One terrorist was killed yesterday in Uri and three today in the contiguous forest area of Rafiabad,” Indian defence spokesman Colonel N N Joshi said.
“One was captured alive during the operation,” Joshi told AFP.
It was not immediately clear if the militants had crossed over the de facto border called the Line of Control from Pakistan.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947, but both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety.
Since 1989 several rebel groups have been fighting hundreds of thousands of Indian forces deployed in the region, for independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan. Tens of thousands, mostly civilians, have been killed in the fighting.
India often accuses Pakistan of pushing armed militants into its administered portion of Kashmir, a charge Islamabad denies saying it only provides diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiri struggle for the right to self determination.

Four suspected rebels killed in Indian Kashmir

AFP, SRINAGAR, India: Soldiers killed four suspected rebels and captured another during a day-long gun battle in Indian Kashmir near the border dividing the region between India and Pakistan, a defence spokesman said yesterday. Soldiers detected the group of militants in Uri, 100 kilometres (62 miles) southwest of Indian Kashmirs main city of Srinagar, on Wednesday morning, triggering a fire fight that ended yesterday afternoon. One terrorist was killed yesterday in Uri and three today in the contiguous forest area of Rafiabad, Indian defence spokesman Colonel N N Joshi said. One was captured alive during the operation, Joshi told AFP. It was not immediately clear if the militants had crossed over the de facto border called the Line of Control from Pakistan. Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947, but both claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. Since 1989 several rebel groups have been fighting hundreds of thousands of Indian forces deployed in the region, for independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan. Tens of thousands, mostly civilians, have been killed in the fighting. India often accuses Pakistan of pushing armed militants into its administered portion of Kashmir, a charge Islamabad denies saying it only provides diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiri struggle for the right to self determination.