SRINAGAR: India’s army killed three suspected militants on Friday in India-held Kashmir during a gunbattle near the de facto border, police said.

Soldiers confronted a group of armed men in a forested area in Uri, 100 kilometres northwest of Srinagar, triggering the shootout, Javid Gillani, inspector general of police, said.

“Our information is that three militants were killed and another was injured in the encounter. One more (militant) is believed to be still in the area,” Mr Gillani said.

Two soldiers were injured during the exchange of fire, he added.

Another police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, claimed that the group of five had crossed the electrified fence along the Line of Control from Pakistan the previous night.

Since 1989, several Kashmiri militant groups have been fighting hundreds of thousands of Indian government forces deployed in the disputed region for independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan.

The fighting has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead in the Himalayan territory.

Published in Dawn, July 4th, 2015

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