SRINAGAR, Aug 13: Indian troops shot dead three suspected militants during a gunbattle in Kashmir ahead of India’s Independence Day this week, an army spokesman said on Sunday.

“The three militants were killed during a gunbattle that erupted when troops laid cordon around a village on a tip-off late Saturday,” said the spokesman, Colonel Hemant Joneja.

The fighting erupted after Indian troops, backed by counter-insurgency police, raided a hide-out in the village of Ringpait, about 80 kilometers north of Srinagar.

“The slain militants are Pakistanis and belong to Lashkar-i-Taiba,” Col Joneja said. —AFP