Soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir killed two suspected rebels during a firefight, police said Friday, hours after gunmen in a separate incident shot dead two members of a government-backed militia.
Muslim-majority Kashmir is home to a long-running insurgency and has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, with both claiming the Himalayan territory in full.
The gun battle started Thursday night in Sopore, in Kashmir’s north, when soldiers and police were searching for rebels.
“Two terrorists have been neutralized in Sopore encounter,” police said in a statement Friday posted on X after the night-long counterinsurgency operation.
Hours before the clash, gunmen shot dead two village defence guards in the remote southern Kishtwar after they were likely abducted.
The village defence guards are a militia force tasked with fighting off rebel attacks in the Hindu-dominated areas of the restive territory.
This year the outfit, largely made up of Hindu civilians, was issued modern semi-automatic weapons and trained by the government forces following a surge in rebel attacks on civilians and soldiers.
Kashmir Tigers, a rebel group active in the territory in recent years, claimed in an Urdu language statement circulated by local media that the duo was killed after they were warned not to pursue rebels.
The rebel group also released photos of the two bloodied bodies.
Police said family members “have confirmed their identities” and that a joint police and army operation was underway to find their bodies in a forest where they had gone missing while tending to livestock.
The area’s local lawmaker Sunil Sharma said in a statement late Thursday he was “deeply saddened by the horrific killing of two village defence guard members.”
Rebel groups have for decades waged an insurgency against Indian rule, demanding independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan.
The conflict has left tens of thousands of soldiers, civilians, and rebels dead, including at least 120 this year, figures compiled by AFP show.
The frequency of rebel attacks and clashes with soldiers has increased in recent months, including the killing of seven construction workers in October and three soldiers this month.
The New Delhi-appointed governor for the territory warned residents this month that households found to be sheltering rebels would be demolished.
India regularly blames Pakistan for arming the rebels and helping them launch attacks in the Indian-controlled part of the territory, an allegation Islamabad denies.