SRINAGAR: Two Kashmiri fighters were killed in India-occupied Kashmir during a firefight late on Thursday, the latest clash in the region during ongoing elections in India.

The gunbattle erupted in the northern town of Sopore when police and Indian soldiers cordoned off an area after receiving a tipoff about the presence of anti-Kashmiri fighters.

A police official said that bodies of two fighters had been seen at the site of the clash. Two soldiers and a civilian received bullet injuries, he added.

Thursday’s firefight came two days after soldiers clashed with anti-India fighters in adjacent Bandipore forested area, police said.

Two soldiers were injured in that exchange, media reported.

Earlier this month an anti-India fighter was killed in a clash with soldiers in the occupied territory’s south.

The latest clashes came during campaigning for India’s six-week-long general election, which continues through to June.

Published in Dawn, April 27th, 2024