SRINAGAR, Sept 26: Indian troops claimed killing six militants in three separate gunbattles in occupied Kashmir on Friday and Thursday night.

One firefight erupted in the Poonch district on Thursday night after police spotted a group of militants and asked them to surrender, but the militants ignored the plea and opened fire, a spokesman said.

“In the retaliatory fire three of them were killed,” the spokesman said, adding the area was being searched for more militants.

Another militant was killed by the Indian troops along the LoC in Kupwara district, the spokesman said.

In another incident, two militants were killed on Friday in an encounter with Indian troops in the Mahore area of Udhampur district, 190 kilometres north of occupied Jammu, police said.

The spokesman said Indian soldiers, acting on a tipoff, cordoned off a hideout in a forest belt of Mahore. As the troops neared the spot the militants opened fire.

“The soldiers retaliated, killing two rebels on the spot,” he said. “Large quantities of weapons and ammunition were recovered from the slain militants.”

DEMO DISPERSED: Police in Srinagar on Friday used batons to disperse a demonstration by more than 60 Kashmiris, led by Ghulam Nabi Sumji, witnesses said.