Indian forces kill 5 militants in Kashmir

By Zahid Rafiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir

Five militants were killed by Indian forces during an overnight gun battle in the village of Killora, Shopian in southern Kashmir.

“We had information that a group of militants are there in the area. Jammu and Kashmir police, army, CRPF cordoned the area. A militant was killed in the encounter last night. The firing was resumed today and bodies of four more militants were recovered. Operation has now been called off,” Jammu and Kashmir police chief Shesh Paul Vaid told reporters on Saturday.

As news of the killings spread, people from adjoining villages came out to the streets to protest. Shouting slogans for independence, the protesters threw stones at Indian forces who used pellets and tear gas shells on the protesters, eyewitnesses said.

In a separate gun battle on Friday, two militants, including an engineering graduate who had joined the militants just four days before, were killed in Sopore, northern Kashmir. An Indian army soldier was also killed in Friday’s gunfight, while three others were injured.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- two of them over Kashmir.

Also, in Siachen glacier in northern Kashmir, Indian and Pakistani troops have fought intermittently since 1984. A cease-fire came into effect in 2003.

Some Kashmiri groups have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have reportedly been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.