Three top Kashmir rebels killed

Indian security forces killed three men suspected of being leading Islamic rebels in a gun battle today, officials said.

The three died in a shoot-out in Tral, 25 miles south of Srinagar, the summer capital of India’s Jammu-Kashmir state.

Border Security Force spokesman Neeraj Sharma the dead men were top commanders of the Al-Badr group. Two were Pakistanis, he said.

Al-Badr is one of a dozen rebel groups battling Indian troops since 1989 for Kashmir’s independence or merger with Pakistan.

The 13-year insurgency in the disputed Himalayan region, divided between India and Pakistan by a ceasefire line, has killed more than 61,000 people.