The Indian army announced on Saturday (November 2) that it had killed three suspected separatist militants during two separate skirmishes in the disputed region of Kashmir (northwest).
The first shooting occurred after Indian troops moved to the checkpoint. “suspicious movements” in Anantnag, south Kashmir. The Chinar Corps, a unit of the Indian Army, said on X Day that a joint operation had been launched in the area. “The terrorists opened fire indiscriminatelythe unit said in its statement. Troops responded effectively, resulting in the elimination of two terrorists. »
Another suspected militant was shot dead on Saturday morning in another exchange of fire with police and soldiers in Srinagar, the region’s main city, a senior police official told Agence France-Presse. The clash took place in Khanyar district while police were searching for armed militants.
First elections since 2014
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since independence from the United Kingdom in 1947, with each country claiming it in its entirety. New Delhi and Islamabad accuse each other of fueling militancy and espionage in the province. The two rival countries, equipped with nuclear weapons, have clashed several times for control of this region.
At least 500,000 Indian troops are deployed in Kashmir, where rebel groups have been waging an insurgency since 1989, demanding independence or integration with neighboring Pakistan, in fighting that has cost the lives of tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels.
Last week, suspected separatist militants ambushed an army vehicle and killed five people, including three soldiers. A week earlier, gunmen killed seven people near a construction site for a strategic highway tunnel into Ladakh (northwest India), a high-altitude region of the Himalayas that borders China.
The Indian military says more than 720 rebels have been killed since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government revoked the territory’s limited autonomy in 2019. In early October, Kashmir, home to about 12 million people, hosted its first elections since 2014. with a view to creating a regional assembly.
