Gunmen in Indian-administered Kashmir ambushed an army vehicle and killed four people including two soldiers, officials said Friday, days after gunmen killed seven construction workers in the disputed territory.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and both claim the territory in full.
India’s army confirmed a brief exchange of fire with "terrorists" late Thursday in the vicinity of Gulmarg, near the heavily militarized unofficial border dividing Kashmir with Pakistan.
India’s Chinar Corps army unit paid tribute to the two slain riflemen, expressing "deepest condolences" and "solidarity with the bereaved families" in a post Friday on social media platform X.
A local government official told AFP two civilian porters engaged by the army were also killed, declining to be named because he was not authorized to speak to media.
The official said the porters were traveling with soldiers when their vehicle was "ambushed by militants.”
India has a permanent deployment of some 500,000 soldiers in the part of Kashmir controlled by New Delhi.
Anti-India rebel groups have waged an insurgency for decades, demanding independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan.
The conflict has left tens of thousands of soldiers, civilians and separatists dead so far.
New Delhi regularly blames Pakistan for supporting the rebels in launching attacks in Kashmir, a charge Islamabad denies.
Thursday’s clash comes days after gunmen killed seven workers inside a labour camp near the construction site of a strategic tunnel connecting Kashmir valley with Ladakh, a Himalayan region bordering China.
Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah said the recent attacks were "a matter of serious concern.”
