Army says 7 killed in clashes with militants in Indian Kashmir

Enlarge Photo Army says 7 killed in clashes with militants in Indian Kashmir

Sun, May 11 05:34 PM

SRINAGAR, India (AP) _ Indian forces and suspected Islamic militants clashed Sunday in two separate incidents in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing seven people, including three civilians and a news photographer, the army said. A soldier and two gunmen were also killed in the fighting, and one of the gunbattles continued to rage hours later with six suspected militants holed up in a house, Indian army spokesman Lt.

Col. S.

D. Goswami said.

In the first clash, soldiers confronted a group of gunmen who had apparently infiltrated the area from across the de facto border with Pakistan, Goswami said. The militants were found in the village of Kehli Mandi, about 220 miles (350 kilometers) south of Indian Kashmir's main city, Srinagar.

As soldiers approached, the gunmen opened fire, hitting a house, killing two civilians inside and wounding two others, he said. During the heavy exchange of fire, a soldier was killed and photographer Ashok Sodhi was hit, Goswami said.

Later, another civilian was killed in the crossfire, said local police chief K. Rajindera.

Sodhi, 45, who was covering the battle for the local English newspaper the Daily Excelsior, died later in a hospital. The newspaper's chief photographer was believed to be the sixth journalist killed since the outbreak of fighting in Kashmir in 1989.

He worked for the newspaper for 25 years and rushed to the scene of the fighting as soon as it erupted, said bureau chief Sanjeev Pargal. The army said six militants were still holed up in a house in the village, and by evening the two sides were still trading fire, Goswami said.

In the second clash, two suspected militants were in a firefight with army and police in the forest area of Darsun, about 75 miles (120 kilometers) north of Srinagar, said Vijay Kumar, the area police chief. Kumar said the Indian forces suffered no casualties.

There was no immediate word from any of the more than a dozen Islamic rebel groups that have been fighting for independence from mainly Hindu India or a union with Muslim-majority Pakistan, which controls the other half of Kashmir. Both countries claim the entire region.

More than 68,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir.

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