Gen. P.P.S. Bindra said. No army casualties were reported. The army described the killings as a major success in its intensified anti-militancy operations on the eve of Indian Independence Day. Elsewhere in the province, three smaller explosions injured two people today. In Srinagar, police sealed an area around the Bakshi Stadium where the Independence Day parade is held every year.
Militants usually fire rockets and grenades toward the stadium to disrupt the celebrations.
Police set up metal barricades on the roads to check all vehicles in the area. Passengers on buses were frisked with metal detectors. Many residents stayed indoors. The mountainous province of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, both of which claim it in its entirety. The Islamic guerillas want Indian-controlled Kashmir to break away from heavily Hindu India and either remain independent or become part of mostly Muslim Pakistan.