JAMMU, April 28: Indian troops in occupied Kashmir shot dead 15 freedom fighters, officials said on Sunday.

Two civilians and a trooper also died separately in overnight clashes in the Valley, the police added. Indian army spokesman Major Animesh Trivedi said 13 cross-border Mujahideen belonging to the Jaish-i-Mohammad and Harkatul Mujahideen groups were killed in three separate firefights on Sunday.

Indian soldiers engaged a batch of Mujahideen and killed six of them when they entered Kashmir’s Rajouri district, 170 kilometres from Jammu.

Trivedi said all six belonged to the Harkatul Mujahideen. Five other Mujahideen were immediately killed when they crossed into Kashmir’s southern district of Poonch, he said, adding they were from Jaish-i-Mohammad. Also on Sunday, Indian troops pursued and shot dead two more Mujahideen in Naushera region. A civilian was also killed in the crossfire, the police said.

An army soldier was killed and a woman injured in an exchange of firing in Rajouri district, police said.—AFP