Tuesday, 29 June 2010
Source: BBC
Hundreds of thousands of troops are based in Kashmir
The Indian army says it has killed five militants who were trying to cross the Line of Control which divides Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.
Three soldiers had also died in the gunbattle by Monday night. The clash began on Sunday afternoon in Nowgam area, an army spokesman said.
There has been a decline in incidents involving militants recently.
Meanwhile, three people have been killed on Tuesday after police fired to break up a demonstration in Anantnag town.
Demonstrators in the town – south of the capital Srinagar – were protesting against the killings of civilians by the police and paramilitaries in the Kashmir valley.
A strike is also being held throughout Indian-administered Kashmir to protest against civilian deaths.
Local people and the state government have blamed most of the 10 deaths this month on the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).
Shops across the Kashmir Valley are closed and traffic is suspended.
The authorities have re-imposed a curfew in the northern town of Sopore, where protesters clashed with the police until late on Monday night.
The BBC’s Altaf Hussain in Srinagar says that the recent deaths have caused much embarrassment to the state government.
Hundreds of thousands of troops are based in Kashmir to fight a two-decade insurgency against Indian rule.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in Muslim-majority Kashmir, over which India and Pakistan both claim sovereignty and have fought two wars.
The Indian military says this year it has stopped a number of militants from crossing over from Pakistan recently.
A defence spokesman in Srinagar, Lieutenant Colonel JS Brar, said Indian troops intercepted the infiltrators late on Sunday afternoon.
He said the army was carrying out mopping up operations.
Indian authorities say the number of militants still active in the state is around 500.
