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> 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 (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> 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: 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> SRINAGAR, India (AP) - Five rebels, two army soldiers and two civilians were killed Thursday during two gunbattles in disputed Kashmir that triggered anti-India protests and clashes, officials and residents said.

The first gunbattle broke out in a neighborhood in southern Pulwama town as police and soldiers scoured the area looking for militants, said Col. Rajesh Kalia, an Indian army spokesman. He said as troops began conducting searches, they came under heavy gunfire, leading to a clash that killed three militants and a soldier.

A civilian was also killed and his brother was wounded during the fighting, police said. Two soldiers were also injured.

Local residents said troops damaged one civilian home with explosives.

The fighting sparked protests and clashes as hundreds of residents tried to march to the site of the battle in solidarity with the rebels despite the security lockdown in the area.

Government forces fired shotgun pellets and tear gas at protesters, who threw stones at them. No one was immediately reported injured in the street clashes.

In the second gunbattle, also in southern Kashmir, government forces launched a search operation in a village near Shopian town following a tip that militants were hiding there, police said. As the troops surrounded a civilian house, militants reportedly came out while firing at them and tried to take refuge in a nearby apple orchard.

In the ensuing exchange of gunfire, two rebels, a civilian and a soldier were killed, police and residents said. Earlier, police had said three militants were killed. However, one of the slain people turned out to be a local resident, residents said. Police maintained that he was an "active associate" of the militants but acknowledged he was not an underground militant.

Meanwhile, the Joint Resistance Leadership, composed of three top separatist leaders who challenge India's sovereignty over Kashmir, called for a protest strike on Friday, saying there has been no letup in the bloodshed even in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan "as civilians, armed youth or even Indian forces are getting killed."

"In one manner or the other, Kashmiris continue to pay the price of the unresolved Kashmir issue," they said in a statement. "Use of force against them continues unabated."

India and Pakistan each claim the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir in its entirety. Rebels have been fighting Indian control since 1989.

Most Kashmiris support the rebels' demand that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country, while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control.

About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian crackdown. </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.
Multiple people are killed, including three militants, two Mujahideen, two civilians and two Indian soldiers, in Kashmir after a shootout.