SRINAGAR: Five fighters were killed on Wednesday in a dawn gun battle with hundreds of troops in Indian occupied Kashmir, officials said, as New Delhi escalates counter-insurgency efforts in the disputed territory.

The fatalities pushed the death toll during the current escalation — which has ramped up since India’s nationwide coronavirus lockdown started in late March — to 14 in four days.

A police officer claimed that the men were in an underground hideout at an apple orchard near Sugoo village south of Srinagar and were surrounded by the troops before daybreak.

“Their bodies and five weapons were retrieved from the site,” army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said.

Published in Dawn, June 11th, 2020