SRINAGAR, May 30: Indian security forces shot dead five Mujahideen in occupied Kashmir, where six Kashmiris also surrendered to police, a police spokesman said.

The overnight encounter erupted when soldiers closed in on a Mujahideen group’s hide-out in the Loran area of Poonch district prompting besieged Kashmiris to open fire.

“The fighting lasted for several hours and ended with the death of five militants,” the spokesman said, adding arms and ammunition were recovered from the site.

The identity of the slain people is not yet known.

Meanwhile, two children died in an explosion triggered by suspected Kashmiris in the border district of Rajouri, police said.

Six Kashmiris gave themselves up and surrendered their arms in Poonch and another southern district, Doda, police said.

One of them, a district commander of Jamiatul Mujahideen, Mohammed Bashir, told reporters he had undergone a seven-month training stint in Afghanistan.

Police said another of the surrendered militants, identified as Mushtaq Ahmed, 27, had also been trained in Afghanistan in 1999-2000.—AFP