https://arab.news/bjyes
- Firefight between suspected rebels, soldiers takes place amid national elections in disputed territory
- Divided between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan since 1947, Kashir is claimed by both countries in full
SRINAGAR, India: Two suspected rebels were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir during a firefight with soldiers, police said Tuesday, at a time when campaigning for national elections is underway in the disputed territory.
Scores of soldiers besieged a residential area in southern Kulgam district, some 70 kilometers (43 miles) from Kashmir’s biggest city Srinagar, on Monday after armed militants were suspected to be present inside a house.
Two bodies of the suspected rebels “were recovered so far” from the site, police said in a statement posted Tuesday on social media platform X.
Images from the area showed smoke billowing from a house after it caught fire during the skirmish.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the Himalayan territory in full.
Rebel groups opposed to Indian rule have for decades waged an insurgency in Indian-controlled Kashmir, demanding either independence or a merger with Pakistan.
The conflict has left tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and militants dead.
Violence and anti-India protests have drastically reduced since 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government canceled the Muslim majority region’s limited autonomy.
But clashes between security forces and rebel groups have increased since voting began last month in India’s six-week election.
Three suspected rebels were killed and a police officer and three soldiers wounded in three separate clashes across the territory in April.
Militants ambushed a military convoy in Kashmir’s south on Sunday, killing one Indian air force corporal and wounding four other troops.