SRINAGAR, Oct 25: Nine Indian soldiers were among 20 people killed in occupied Kashmir on Thursday.

Three soldiers were killed and six others hurt in a landmine explosion at Chakarasalan Khan, near the Bandipora township, 60kms north of Srinagar.

In another mine blast at nearby Matrigan, two soldiers from India’s Border Security Force were injured, police said.

At Gund, near Banihal township, 110kms south of Srinagar, Mujahideen ambushed an army convoy with rockets and automatic rifle fire, killing two soldiers and injuring six more and three civilians, police said.

One soldier was killed and two injured in a separate ambush at Kalaroos, in Kupwara, near the Line of Control.

The Lashkar-i-Taiba claimed responsibility for all the attacks, a police spokesman said.

Three Mujahideen died in a fierce encounter with the Indian forces at the village of Wadipora, near Chadoora, 35kms east of Srinagar.

Five more freedom fighters died in three encounters in Doda and Baramulla districts.

A policeman was also killed in an encounter with the Mujahideen in Doda.

Two more soldiers were killed in an encounter that erupted as Indian forces were carrying out a search operation in the Gool area of Udhampur district.

In another incident, a woman was killed in an exchange of fire between police and Mujahideen in the Balaloonam area of Poonch district.

A teenage Muslim boy was killed and his younger brother injured in a mine explosion in neighbouring Manjakote village.

Abdul Majid Akhoon, brother of Kashmiri legislator Mohammad Sayeed Aakhoon, died in Srinagar’s main hospital on Thursday. He was shot and wounded last week by unidentified men.—AFP