Three suspected militants killed in Indian-held Kashmir gun battle

A local police officer says soldiers using mortar fire destroyed the house where militants were hiding

Three suspected militants were killed in an overnight gun battle with soldiers in a village in Indian-occupied Kashmir, an army spokesman said Monday.

Rajesh Kalia said troops cordoned off the village near the tourist resort of Pahalgam after receiving a tip that fighters were hiding out in a private home there.



"On specific intelligence, army soldiers cordoned off the village on Sunday evening and the gun battle started," Kalia told AFP.

"Three terrorists have been killed. Their bodies and weapons have been retrieved."

A local police officer said soldiers using mortar fire had destroyed the house. Hundreds of thousands of troops are deployed in Indian occupied Kashmir, where rebel groups have for decades been fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan.

The restive Himalayan region suffered a rise in violence last year after the killing in July of a popular young rebel leader in a gun battle with soldiers. Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan, but both claim it in full.



The two nuclear-armed neighbours have twice gone to war over the territory since gaining independence from British rule in 1947.