SRINAGAR, Oct 3: The Indian army has killed six Mujahideen in two separate encounters in occupied Kashmir, an army spokesman said on Friday.

He said Indian troops shot dead three Mujahideen during a 10-hour gunbattle which started late on Thursday in the Natnusa area of northwestern Kupwara district.

“The fighting erupted when Indian troops ringed the area on a tip off,” spokesman Colonel Mukhtair Singh said.

He said the Mujahideen opened fire to break the cordon but failed in their attempt.

All three freedom fighters holed up in the area were killed, he said. Indian soldiers killed three more freedom fighters in the Kreeri area of northern Baramulla district on Friday, said Singh.

EXCHANGE OF FIRE: A civilian was killed and property damaged in an intense exchange of artillery by Indian and Pakistani troops along their border over Kashmir, police said on Friday.

The civilian died overnight when mortar rounds and artillery shells fired by Pakistani troops from across the LoC hit villages in occupied Kashmir, police said.

The death was reported in the northeastern Kargil sector of Kashmir, a police spokesman said. He said Indian troops returned fire.—AFP