Four suspected militants and two Indian Army soldiers have been killed in a gunbattle in Indian-controlled Kashmir, army officials have said.

The alleged militants were hiding in a south Kashmir village when the army and police surrounded it, a police official said on February 12.

In the ensuing fire fight, four militants and two soldiers were killed.

A civilian caught in the crossfire also died, officials said.

"Four terrorists were killed and four weapons were recovered from the encounter site," army spokesman in Srinagar, Colonel Manish Mehta said.

The Indian army said three soldiers were injured in the violence. Residents said government forces blasted the house with explosives.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British rule in 1947. Both claim the disputed Himalayan territory in its entirety and have fought two wars over it.

Rebels have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989.

More than 65,000 people have been killed in the uprising and Indian military crackdown.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP </s> SRINAGAR (REUTERS) - Four Indian soldiers and a civilian were killed in a gunbattle in disputed Kashmir on Monday (Feb 18), a police official said, as India launched a hunt for suspected members of an Islamist militant group that killed 44 Indian paramilitary police last week.

A police spokesman in the northern state of Jammu & Kashmir said Indian troops had cordoned off Pinglan village in Kashmir's Pulwama district, where a suicide bomber rammed into a convoy of paramilitary police on Thursday (Feb 14).

Another state police official, who declined to be identified because the operation is not yet over, said information had been received about the presence of up to three militants from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, including foreigners, inside a house in the village.

The second police official said four soldiers and a civilian were killed in the gunbattle.

"There was an exchange of fire early this morning that wounded the army men and the owner of the house. They died later," said official said.

An indefinite curfew has been imposed in Pulwama and police have asked people to stay indoors.

Mr Mohammad Yunis, a journalist in Pulwama, said troops were searching the village and civilians trapped in adjacent houses were being evacuated.

Pakistan has denied any links to the attack on the convoy of reserve police last week.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility, is claimed in its entirety by India and Pakistan but is ruled in part by both south Asian countries.

Indian forces have detained about 23 men suspected of links to Jaish, which has claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack on Indian security forces in decades. </s> Six militants, an Indian soldier and a civilian were killed in two separate gun battles in Jammu and Kashmir’s south on Thursday, police said.

In a statement, the police said three militants, an Indian army soldier, and a civilian were killed in a gunfight in Pulwama district when Indian forces a joint group of army, paramilitary and police launched a cordon and search operation in the Dalipora village.

“Three terrorists were killed in the ensuing encounter and their bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter,” said the police statement. Police identified two of the slain militants as Naseer Pandith and Umar Mir, both were Kashmiri locals, and named the third militant Khalid, a Pakistani citizen. The militants were linked to the Jaish-e-Muhammad militant outfit, according to the police.

Abdul Rashid Para, a medical superintendent of the Pulwama district hospital, confirmed the death of a 25-year-old civilian, identified as Rayees Ahmad Dar.

According to Dar’s family, he and his brother were taken away from their home and used as human shields by the Indian forces during the gunfight. Dar’s brother was also wounded and has been hospitalized. Later in the day, three more militants were killed in a gun battle in Shopian.

“In the encounter, 3 terrorists were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. The identities and affiliations of the slain terrorists is being ascertained,” police said in another statement.

Jammu and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China. </s> Image copyright AP Image caption Pakistan and India have overlapping territorial claims in Kashmir

Seven suspected militants have been killed in two separate gun battles with security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir, authorities say.

The Indian army said four militants were shot dead in a clash in the state's Kupwara district on Sunday.

Another three rebels were killed after they tried to storm a government office in Poonch district.

A curfew has been in effect for over two months across Kashmir following an upsurge of violence since 9 July.

The protests were sparked by the killing of a popular militant leader. Burhan Wani, 22, died in a gunfight with the Indian army.

More than 70 people, mostly young men, have since been killed in clashes between protestors and security forces, and thousands more injured in the worst violence seen in the region for years.

On Sunday Indian soldiers killed four militants as they tried to cross the de-facto border that divides the disputed Himalayan region between India and Pakistan in Kupwara, an army official said.

"They tried to infiltrate into Nowgam sector (an area northwest of the main city of Srinagar) and were intercepted. Four militants were killed and their AK rifles were recovered," army spokesman NN Joshi told the AFP news agency.

Three other rebels were killed after they tried to enter a government office in Poonch. A policeman was also killed in the clash.

The clashes with militants came as stone-pelting residents protesting against Indian rule of the region clashed with security forces in Pulwana and two other places in the southern Kashmir valley, leaving many injured, police said.

Disputed Kashmir is claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan and has been a flashpoint for more than 60 years, sparking two wars between the countries.

Within the disputed Muslim-majority territory, some militant groups have taken up arms to fight for independence from Indian rule or a merger with Pakistan. </s> Four militants and two Indian soldiers were among seven people killed in a gun battle in Kashmir Sunday, a police spokesman said. It is the latest sign of increasing tension in the Himalayan region disputed by nuclear-armed neighbors India and Pakistan.

Militants opened fire on army troops in the village of Prisal south of Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s state of Jammu and Kashmir, S.P. Pani, the deputy inspector general of police, told Reuters.

“Two army men, four militants, and a civilian, the house owner, were killed in the gun battle,” Pani added, referring to the building where the militants had holed up.

Three soldiers were injured in the exchange of fire. The army seized four weapons from the site of the encounter in the village, which security forces had cordoned off, army spokesman Rajesh Kalia said.

India has blamed Pakistan for stoking violence in Kashmir by supplying fighters and material across the border, but Pakistan has denied these charges.

The violence peaked last year after Burhan Wani, a 22-year-old separatist leader who enjoyed widespread support in the Muslim-majority region, was shot dead by Indian security forces in July.

Last month, three road-building workers were killed after unidentified militants attacked a camp housing them, police said. </s> Indian troops and separatist militants have clashed in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing five people including a civilian, officials say.

Tension in Muslim-majority Kashmir has been high since a February 14 suicide bomb attack by the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militant group killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave troops a "free hand" to respond to the attack, and near-daily searches in villages in Kashmir since then have often triggered violent confrontations, with civilians caught in crossfire.

Modi's tough response to the attack, which included an air strike against what India said was a militant camp in Pakistan, is believed to have given his party a boost in a general election that ends on May 19.

Three JeM militants, including a Pakistani commander, and an Indian soldier were killed in the gun battle in Dalipora, a village in south Kashmir, police said.

Villagers said a civilian, who they identified as Rayees Ahmad Dar, 32, was also killed after Indian soldiers had sent him to search a house where militants were believed to be hiding. Villagers in the area have complained before about the army using civilians as human shields in searches.

A police spokesman said Dar had been killed in indiscriminate firing by the militants, and denied he had been sent on a search.

Also on Thursday, police said seven people had been arrested and a curfew imposed on a town in the region after a Muslim man transporting horses was shot dead, allegedly by a Hindu group wanting to protect the rights of cows, an animal considered sacred in their religion.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars since their independence, two of them over the Himalayan region, and came close to another in February. </s> SRINAGAR, India (AP) - The Indian army says four suspected rebels have been killed in disputed Kashmir as businesses and schools shut in the region in response to a separatists' call to protest the killing of eight civilians by government forces during a weekend by-election.

Army spokesman Col. Rajesh Kalia says a gunbattle erupted Sunday night after the four militants crossed from Pakistani territory into the Indian-held portion of Kashmir in Keran sector. There was no independent confirmation of the incident.

Meanwhile, a strike called by separatists paralyzed life in the Kashmir Valley on Monday.

Government forces opened fire on Sunday on crowds of people who attacked polling stations during a by-election for a vacant seat in India's Parliament, killing eight people.

Most people in Indian-controlled Kashmir favor independence or a merger with Pakistan. </s> SRINAGAR (Reuters) - Indian troops and separatist militants clashed in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Thursday and nine people were killed, officials said, the latest casualties in a new phase of violence in the 30-year insurgency.

People offer funeral prayers for Naseer Ahmad Pandit, a separatist militant, after he was killed in a gun battle with Indian soldiers, in Karimabad village in south Kashmir's Pulwama district May 16, 2019. REUTERS/Younis Khaliq

In one of the deadliest clashes since the Feb. 14 suicide bomb attack in the valley, three Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants, including a Pakistani commander, two members of the local Hizbul Mujahideen, two Indian soldiers and two civilians were killed.

Tension in Muslim-majority Kashmir has been high since the suicide bomb attack by the Pakistan-based JeM militant group killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave troops a “free hand” to respond to the attack, and near-daily searches in villages in Kashmir since then have often triggered violent confrontations, with civilians caught in crossfire to the alarm of rights groups.

Modi’s tough response to the bomb attack, which included an air strike against what India said was a militant camp in Pakistan, is believed to have given his party a boost in a general election that began on April 11 and ends on May 19.

JEM leaders were killed in a gun battle in Dalipora, a village in south Kashmir, where clashes began between the militant group and Indian soldiers in the early hours, while Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in a separate clash in the Handew area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.

ROCKS AND TEARGAS

Villagers said a civilian, who they identified as Rayees Ahmad Dar, 32, was killed after Indian soldiers sent him to search a house where militants were believed to be hiding. Villagers in the area have complained before about the army using civilians in searches.

A police spokesman said Dar was killed in indiscriminate firing by the militants and denied he had been sent on a search.

After the clash, villagers threw rocks at security forces, who responded with teargas, while lawyers in the state’s high court went on strike in protest over Dar’s death.

Police said seven people had been arrested and a curfew imposed on a town in the region after a Muslim man transporting horses was shot dead, allegedly by a Hindu group wanting to protect the rights of cows, which they consider sacred.

Yasir Hussain told Reuters he was one of three men confronted overnight by the group on the outskirts of Bhaderwah.

“They alleged that we are cow smugglers, but I directed my torch towards the horses,” he said. “They fired at us and we fled.”

Kashmir is at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan. The nuclear-armed neighbours both claim it in full but rule it in part.

The rivals have fought three wars since independence, two of them over the Himalayan region, and came close to another after the February bomb attack.

Separatist militants, who India says are backed by Pakistan, have been fighting Indian security forces since 1989. Pakistan denies supporting the insurgents.

“Even in the holy month of Ramadan there is no let up in killings and bloodshed in Kashmir as civilians, armed youth or even Indian forces are getting killed,” Kashmir’s main separatist political group, the Joint Resistance Leadership, said in a statement. It called for a general strike in Kashmir on Friday. </s> At least two militants were killed in an encounter in a village in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district, reported ANI. A soldier was reportedly injured in the incident in Yaripora village. “Different unconfirmed figures on casualties of security forces & terrorists are doing the rounds. Operation in Kulgam is still on,” said the Army.

The incident took place when a joint team of local police and the Army were conducting a search operation on Saturday night upon receiving intelligence input. “The encounter started after militants hiding in a house opened fire,” the police control room in Kulgam said.
Four suspected militants, two Indian Army soldiers, and one civilian are killed in clashes in a village in southern Jammu and Kashmir.