“Six militants, including two Pakistan
nationals, have been killed in two separate encounters with the security forces
in Anantnag and Kulgam districts of Kashmir,” the Kashmir valley’s police
chief Vijay Kumar said.
An Indian army soldier was also killed in the
back-to-back gun battles that took place in southern Kashmir, Kumar said.
India has long accused Pakistan of stoking an
insurgency since the 1990s in Kashmir – a Himalayan region that both
nuclear-armed neighbours claim in full but control only parts of.
Islamabad denies the charge, saying it only
provides diplomatic and moral backing for the self-determination of Kashmiri
people.
Earlier this year, the disputed region
witnessed a wave of civilian killings, with militants seemingly targeting
non-Kashmiris, including migrant workers, and members of the minority Hindu and
Sikh communities in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley. Indian forces in the
heavily-militarised region responded with a widespread crackdown.
Anti-insurgency operations in
federally-administered Jammu and Kashmir continue with more than 189 militants
and 44 security personnel killed in Kashmir this year, according a police
official.
“Forty-one civilians were killed this
year as compared to last year when 33 civilians were killed in militancy
related incidents,” the official said, declining to be named.
