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6 rebels killed in gunbattle in Indian Kashmir, army says - International Herald Tribune
SRINAGAR, India: Security forces killed six suspected Islamic militants in a gunbattle Saturday in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the army said.
Indian army spokesman Lt. Col. Anil Kumar Mathur said the clash began after troops and police sealed off a forested area near Lurgam following a tip that militants were hiding there. Lurgam is 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state.
Mathur said the rebels belonged to the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, which authorities blame for a number of bombings and attacks, including an assault on India's Parliament in 2001.
With the area still sealed off, there was no independent confirmation of the incident and no immediate comment from the rebel group.
Separately, five people were killed Saturday in an explosion in a policeman's house in Neel village, 75 miles (120 kilometers) south of Srinagar, local police official Hemant Lohia said.
All five died on their way to hospital, he said. Police had initially said six people were injured in the explosion.
Lohia said police were investigating whether the explosion had been triggered by rebels. No other details were immediately available from the remote village.
Last week, eight people, including two soldiers and a news photographer, were killed in a fierce battle between rebels and government forces in the Jammu area of the disputed Himalayan region.
The Indian military also accused Pakistani troops of firing at an Indian army post Wednesday across the heavily guarded de facto border. Pakistan denied the charge.
The frontier has been largely quiet since a 2003 cease-fire between India and Pakistan, followed by the start of a peace process in 2004.
Syed Salahuddin, chairman of the militant coalition United Jihad Council, recently told the local Kashmir News Service that rebels had suffered considerable losses in the last few months and that the guerrilla leadership had prepared a strategy for a "long-drawn war" with Indian forces.
Jaish-e-Mohammad is one of more than a dozen rebel groups fighting for either independence from mainly Hindu India or a union with Muslim-majority Pakistan. More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the start of an anti-India rebellion in the region in 1989.
Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan. Both countries claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety and have fought two wars over its control since their independence from Britain in 1947.
SRINAGAR, India: Security forces killed six suspected Islamic militants in a gunbattle Saturday in Indian-controlled Kashmir, the army said.
Indian army spokesman Lt. Col. Anil Kumar Mathur said the clash began after troops and police sealed off a forested area near Lurgam following a tip that militants were hiding there. Lurgam is 30 miles (50 kilometers) south of Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state.
Mathur said the rebels belonged to the Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, which authorities blame for a number of bombings and attacks, including an assault on India's Parliament in 2001.
With the area still sealed off, there was no independent confirmation of the incident and no immediate comment from the rebel group.
Separately, five people were killed Saturday in an explosion in a policeman's house in Neel village, 75 miles (120 kilometers) south of Srinagar, local police official Hemant Lohia said.
All five died on their way to hospital, he said. Police had initially said six people were injured in the explosion.
Lohia said police were investigating whether the explosion had been triggered by rebels. No other details were immediately available from the remote village.
Last week, eight people, including two soldiers and a news photographer, were killed in a fierce battle between rebels and government forces in the Jammu area of the disputed Himalayan region.
The Indian military also accused Pakistani troops of firing at an Indian army post Wednesday across the heavily guarded de facto border. Pakistan denied the charge.
The frontier has been largely quiet since a 2003 cease-fire between India and Pakistan, followed by the start of a peace process in 2004.
Syed Salahuddin, chairman of the militant coalition United Jihad Council, recently told the local Kashmir News Service that rebels had suffered considerable losses in the last few months and that the guerrilla leadership had prepared a strategy for a "long-drawn war" with Indian forces.
Jaish-e-Mohammad is one of more than a dozen rebel groups fighting for either independence from mainly Hindu India or a union with Muslim-majority Pakistan. More than 68,000 people, mostly civilians, have been killed since the start of an anti-India rebellion in the region in 1989.
Kashmir is split between India and Pakistan. Both countries claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety and have fought two wars over its control since their independence from Britain in 1947.