SRINAGAR: Government forces killed three suspected militants during a lengthy gunfight in India-held Kashmir on Tuesday, police said, in the latest flare-up ahead of tense local elections later this year.
Soldiers cordoned off a house in Hanjan village, some 40km south of Srinagar, on Monday evening after receiving a tip-off that militants were inside, a police officer said.
The militants then opened fire, sparking armed exchanges which went on till early morning, the officer said.
“All the three militants died during the gun battle,” he added. Another police officer, Vijay Kumar, told reporters that all the three militants were local men.
The fighting took place after multiple clashes between suspected militants and government forces last week left eight people from the two sides dead in the north of the disputed territory near the de facto border with Pakistan known as the Line of Control or LoC.
Published in Dawn, September 3rd, 2014
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