News / India

Four militants killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir

Saturday, 26 May 2018 10:35 AM [ Last Update: Saturday, 26 May 2018 10:38 AM ]

Indian parmilitary troopers stand guard in Srinagar on May 18, 2018. (Photo by AFP)

At least four suspected militants have been killed in a gun battle with Indian government troops after crossing into the New Delhi-controlled part of Kashmir.

The Indian military said fighting began early on Saturday when soldiers intercepted heavily armed militants along the highly militarized de facto border that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Colonel Rajesh Kalia, an Indian army spokesman, said the operations were still ongoing in the area, adding that government forces suffered no casualties.

India recently ordered security forces to halt their operations against rebels in the disputed Kashmir territory during the holy Muslim month of Ramadan.

PressTV-India halts military ops in Kashmir for Ramadan

Indian military operations against rebels in the disputed Kashmir territory have been suspended in a rare gesture for the Muslim holy month of Ramadan.

New Delhi has deployed some 500,000 soldiers to the disputed region to further boost the security of the borderline and enforce a crackdown on pro-independence demonstrations in its share of Kashmir, where anti-India sentiments are high.

Kashmir lies at the heart of a bitter territorial dispute since India and Pakistan became independent in 1947. Cross-border frictions have recently flared up between troops from the two neighbors along the disputed de facto border in Kashmir. The two sides have accused each other of provocation.

New Delhi and Islamabad both claim the region in full, but rule parts of it. Pakistan administers one-third of Kashmir, with the remaining two-thirds under India’s control.

Thousands of people have been killed in the unrest in Kashmir over the past two decades.

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