Nine killed in latest Kashmir violence

Clashes between Indian government forces and suspected Islamic separatist militants have killed nine people in India’s Jammu-Kashmir state.

Five militants and a soldier died in two incidents in the Kashmir area, the army said, while police said they had killed three militants, including a senior leader, in two other encounters in Jammu portion of the state.

More than a dozen rebel groups have been fighting since 1989 for Muslim-majority Kashmir’s independence from predominantly Hindu India or its merger with mostly Muslim Pakistan. The conflict has killed more than 67,000 people.

Kashmir is a Himalayan territory claimed by India and Pakistan and divided between them. Although Jammu territory is not under dispute, India’s Jammu-Kashmir state is commonly referred to simply as Kashmir.

In the Kashmir part of the state, a large force from the Indian army cordoned off the village of Gambru late yesterday after receiving a tip that several militants had gathered there, said army spokesman Col. Heman Juneja.

The troops came under fire as they approached two houses, starting an all-night gun battle. A soldier and a suspected militant were killed, Juneja said.

Three soldiers were wounded, one critically, he said. Soldiers were searching the area for other gunmen.

Gambru is 40 miles north of Srinagar, Jammu-Kashmir’s summer capital.

Also, Indian troops identified a group of suspected militants crossing the Line of Control, the de facto frontier between Indian and Pakistani Kashmir, late yesterday. The ensuing fight left four infiltrators killed, Juneja said.

The incident occurred in the Gulmarg area, about 50 miles north of Srinagar. There were no army casualties.

Elsewhere, police raided a rebel hide-out in the mountainous Sharekhi district, killing a senior militant, identified as Tariq Usman Sheikh, the district commander of the Hizbul Mujahedeen group, said local police chief Manohar Singh.

Sharekhi is about 110 miles north-east of Jammu.

In another incident, police surrounded a group of militants in the Tramda Nari area, about 120 miles north-west of Jammu.

Two militants were killed and police continued to battle others, said area superintendent Farooq Khan. Reinforcements had been called in, he said.

India accuses long-time rival Pakistan of training, arming and funding the militants. Islamabad denies the charge, saying it only offers the rebels diplomatic and moral support.

The two nuclear-armed neighbouring countries have fought two wars over Kashmir since their independence from Britain in 1947.