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> A militant was killed in a gun battle in Jammu and Kashmir’s Poonch district on Monday. A senior police official told IANS that a gunfight started again at the site of Sunday’s firing in Poonch town.

“The building and adjacent areas were surrounded and exchange of fire was continuing between the security forces and some surviving militants still holed up in the building,” the official said.

In Pir Panchal Valley, militants, believed to be Lashkar-e-Taiba’s fresh infiltrators, opened fire around 7:30 a.m. on Sunday when a policeman spotted their movement.

The militants, were hiding in a school and an under construction government building near the Army's 93 Brigade headquarters.

One policeman, identified as Raj Kumar, died in the attack in which three militants were killed. Three persons, including a soldier, sustained injuries. </s> SRINAGAR: While a police statement said that three militants were killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district, it was confirmed later that one of the victims was a civilian.

The police said in a statement on Thursday that three militants were killed in the gunfight that took place earlier in the day in Handew village.

While two victims were identified as Yawar Mushtaq and Shakeel Ahmed, both Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militants from Shopian, the third was identified as a civilian, Ishtiyaq Ahmed Bhat.

A soldier, Rohit Kumar Yadav who was injured in the gunfight, succumbed to his wounds on Thursday night in the Army's 92 base hospital in Srinagar, the police said.

In Thursday's two gunfights in Pulwama and Shopian districts killed a total of five militants, two civilians and two soldiers.

Three Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militants, including a top commander identified as a Pakistan national Khalid Bhai, a civilian and a soldier were killed in a gunfight in Dalipora village of Pulwama.

Police said Khalid Bhai had masterminded the 2017 attack on the Lethpora CRPF camp in Pulwama district in which five troopers were killed.

In a third shootout between the security forces and militants in Kupwara's Kandi forests on Thursday, there were no reports of any casualty. </s> Violence erupts in Kashmir after security forces kill militants, say police

People shout slogans as they gather around the body of Shabir Ahmad, a suspected militant who was killed in a gunbattle with Indian security forces, during his funeral at Aghanzipora village, in South Kashmir's Pulwama district, March 16, 2018. — ReuterSRINAGAR, April 1 — At least 12 people, including eight suspected militants, were killed in gun battles with Indian security forces in southern Kashmir, police officials said, in one of the most violent days in the restive region this year.

Two Indian soldiers and two civilians were also killed, and more than 30 people were injured when hundreds of protesters pelted stones at the security forces to disrupt their anti-militant operations, police said.

Troops used tear gas and pellet guns to disperse the crowd, and later opened fire. Most of the injured sustained pellet wounds but six had gunshot wounds, said S.P. Vaid, the director general of the state police.

Local residents put the number of injured at over 50.

Muslim separatists have been waging a violent campaign against Indian rule since the late 1980s in Indian-held Kashmir.

Vaid said the army received information on Saturday night about militants hiding in an area near Dragad village in Shopian district, about 50 km (30 miles) south of Kashmir’s capital of Srinagar.

“In Dragad, 7 bodies of militants were recovered including top commanders. They were killed in a gun battle,” Vaid said, adding that the owner of the house in which the militants were trapped was also killed.

Another militant was killed in Dialgam village in Anantnag district, about 60 km (37 miles) south of Srinagar, while one was caught alive, he said.

Two Indian soldiers and one civilian were killed in another gun battle in Kachdoora village, which is also in Shopian district, where a battle with a separate group of 4-5 militants was ongoing, Vaid said. Train services to south Kashmir have been suspended as a precautionary measure, a railways official said, and internet services in five districts have also been blocked.

In south Kashmir’s Pulwama district the local administration has imposed restrictions on the movement of people and vehicles to prevent any violence. — Reuters </s> SRINAGAR: Militants today shot at and injured a special police officer in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir , police said.The militants opened fire on Showkat Ahmad Dar near his residence in Rahmoo in Pulwama district of south Kashmir, resulting in injuries to the officer, a police official said.He said the injured officer has been admitted to a hospital and he is stated to be critical.More details are awaited. </s> SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Five civilians were killed and more than 50 wounded when Indian troops opened fire on hundreds of people who pelted them with stones as they carried out an operation against militants in Kashmir, a senior police official said.

The police official, who asked not to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media, said at least 10 of the wounded protesters were hit by bullets and four were in a critical condition.

Indian security services killed five militants in an operation in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Sunday, including Saddam Padder, a Hizbul Mujahideen commander, and Mohammad Rafi Bhat, a Kashmiri professor with alleged ties to militant groups, the Director General of Police in Kashmir, S.P. Vaid, said.

The militants were killed in a gunbattle lasting several hours in the Shopian district in Kashmir, police officials said.

A police spokesman said the circumstances surrounding the death of civilians was being investigated.

Security forces killed four civilians in a village in Kashmir in April when they opened fire on protesters pelting them with stones to stop an operation against militants, police officials said.

The Joint Resistance Leadership of separatists on Sunday asked people to march to the chief minister’s office in Srinagar on Monday to protest against the bloodshed.

“Words fail to express the pain of the tragedy unfolding in Shopian as the count of the brutally killed by Indian forces keeps rising,” said Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

Muslim separatists have been waging a violent campaign against Indian rule since the late 1980s in Indian-held Kashmir, the only Muslim majority state in mostly Hindu India.

New Delhi accuses Pakistan of covertly supporting the long-running separatist insurgency.

The nuclear-armed South Asian rivals have fought two of their three wars over the divided Himalayan region.

Internet services in the area were suspended in the aftermath of Sunday’s killings, a Reuters witness said, and train services have been suspended.

Violence has increased in the last two months and this year so far 131 people have been killed in Kashmir, including 72 militants, 31 civilians and 28 Indian security personnel. </s> SRINAGAR, India, Sept 12 (Reuters) - Indian security forces killed seven militants in two gunbattles that also left a police officer dead in Kashmir on Sunday, as tensions in the region ratcheted higher and street protests against Indian rule grew.

Three of the militants were killed after they tried to storm the government secretariat in Poonch, near the de-facto border with Pakistan, which lays claims to the Himalayan region.

"One policeman was killed, while another police officer and civilian were injured as militants tried to storm the building. The police repulsed the attack and the militants took refuge in nearby buildings," said a senior police official, adding that the three militants were killed after a day-long gunbattle.

Separately, a senior army officer told Reuters that the army foiled two infiltration attempts by militants near the line of control with Pakistan. Four militants were killed in one of the gunbattles. Infiltrators attempting to cross the border were pushed back in the second clash in which no one was killed, authorities said.

Large swathes of Kashmir remain shut down for a third month, as Indian authorities struggle to contain violent demonstrations triggered by the killing by security forces in July of a young militant commander who was revered by some Kashmir youth.

On Saturday, two people were killed in new protests in Kashmir, taking the death toll to 75 since protesters took to the streets following the killing of Burhan Wani, the commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen group.

There was more trouble on Sunday when police fired tear gas to disperse a mob in Karimabad in southern Kashmir, and at least 50 people were injured in the clashes, the police control room said.

The violence in Indian Kashmir has reignited tensions with Pakistan as New Delhi blamed its neighbour for stoking further trouble there by pushing militants across the heavily militarised border that divides the region.

More troops have now been deployed on the Kashmir frontier to foil such infiltration attempts, officials said.

Pakistan denies giving material support to the Kashmir guerrillas but says it provides moral and diplomatic support in Kashmir's struggle for self-determination. (Reporting by Fayaz Bukhari; Writing by Sanjeev Miglani and Euan Rocha; Editing by Peter Cooney) </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.
Clashes in Kashmir kill eight militants and a policeman.