Indian troops kill three ‘separatists’ in occupied Kashmir

Occupied forces claim they shoot dead three suspected rebels in Srinagar and Sundabani sector

SRINAGAR: Indian police and troops killed three suspected separatists in two separate gunbattles in occupied Kashmir on Tuesday, one of them near the de facto border with Pakistan, officers claimed.

Soldiers and members of the police's special operations group surrounded Hadoora, some 25km north of the main city of Srinagar, after a tip-off about suspected rebels inside a house in the village.

"In the ensuing gunfight two militants were killed. Both are foreigners," police Superintendent Imtiyaz Ismael said.



In a separate incident a group of militants attempted to cross the Line of Control (LoC) in the Sundabani sector, but were intercepted by Indian soldiers.

"One terrorist was eliminated in the operation while the balance group fled towards the Pakistani side of Kashmir," said an army statement.

Dozens of local youths joined the separatist groups following the killing of a popular Kashmiri leader Burhan Wani by the occupied forces in July last year. The incident sparked months of anti-India unrest which left more than 90 civilians dead.

Clashes between the rebels and Indian forces have grown more frequent since then.