SRINAGAR, June 15: Clashes between Kashmiri freedom fighters and Indian forces killed 5 people in two separate incidents in Indian-occupied Kashmir on Friday, police said.

Two soldiers and a civilian were killed when Kashmiri gunmen ambushed an army convoy in the town of Sopore, riddling the vehicles with gunfire and hurling grenades, said Viplav Kumar, a senior police officer. Five others were wounded. Sopore is 50 kilometers (30 miles) north of Srinagar.

Also on Friday, two suspected Kashmiri militants were killed in a gunbattle with police on the outskirts of Srinagar, police said in a statement, calling them members of ''a suicide squad.''

There was no immediate comment from the rebel groups that have been fighting for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with Pakistan since 1989. More than 68,000 people have been killed in the conflict.—AP