World
18:21, 27-Aug-2017
2 militants, 8 police killed in India-controlled-Kashmir
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Security forces in the India-controlled-Kashmir shot dead two militants after an hours-long gun battle on Saturday for control of a government compound. Eight policemen were also killed, said local top police official.
The shootout ensued after the militants stormed into the police camp in the southern town Pulwama.
In a statement to local newspapers, Islamist group Jaish-e-Mohammad claimed responsibility for the attack.
It was the deadliest on a state security facility since September 2016, when armed militants broke into an army camp in Uri near the Line of Control (LoC)－the de facto border with Pakistan－killing 18 army personnel.
Local villagers gather as they throw stones a t Indian army soldiers near a gunfight between militants and government forces in Pulwama. /AFP Photo
Local villagers gather as they throw stones a t Indian army soldiers near a gunfight between militants and government forces in Pulwama. /AFP Photo
Indian troops have killed 134 militants this year, mostly in the past two months, officials said. The total number of militants killed in 2016 was 150.
India accuses Pakistan of training and arming militants and helping them infiltrate across the LoC that divides Kashmir. Pakistan denies those allegations.
The South Asian neighbors have fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which they both claim in full but control in part.
Also on Saturday, wreath-laying ceremony of Central Reserve Police Force constable Shaheed Jaswant Singh was held in New Delhi. India's junior interior minister Kiren Rijiju attended the ceremony.
(With inputs from Reuters)