‘Militant,’ Indian soldiers killed in Kashmir clashes

Violence in the restive Indian-controlled Kashmir has left two soldiers and a “militant” dead.

Police said on Friday that two Indian army soldiers and a militant had been killed in fierce fighting in southern Samboora Village overnight. Government forces had set up a cordon around a cluster of homes in the village after receiving a tip that militants had been hidden in the area.

The villagers, opposed to Indian rule, exited their homes and flooded the streets, resulting in deadly clashes with the military, which left one villager and two soldiers dead.

Indian forces claimed the villager killed by Indian forces in the incident had been a militant.

Separately on Thursday, police claimed they had recovered the body of an “activist” affiliated to India’s ruling Bhartiya Janta Party (BJP) in an orchard in southern Shopian area.

Police claimed that militants had killed the BJP member, identified as Gowhar Hussain Bhat.

Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided into two sections, separately administered by India and Pakistan, since partition in 1947. New Delhi has sent in hundreds of thousands of soldiers to crack down on dissent in the Indian-administered section. The Kashmiris there want independence or a merger with Pakistan.

India and Pakistan have fought three wars over the territory.

The countries reached a ceasefire in Kashmir in 2003. The United Nations Military Observer Group in India and Pakistan (UNMOGIP) has been monitoring the border for decades.

But violence erupts from time to time.

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