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Eight dead in shootings in Indian Kashmir: police

Two soldiers and six suspected insurgents were killed in two separate gun battles in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said on Sunday.

Kashmir Inspector General of Police Vidhi Kumar Birdi told AFP that authorities in the disputed territory had “conducted two different operations” in villages in Kulgam district.

Birdi said two members of …

Two soldiers and six suspected insurgents were killed in two separate gun battles in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said on Sunday.

Kashmir Inspector General of Police Vidhi Kumar Birdi told AFP that authorities in the disputed territory had “conducted two different operations” in villages in Kulgam district.

Birdi said two members of the security forces were killed and clashes continued in the villages of Modergram and Frisal Chinnigam.

“We have recovered the bodies of two terrorists from Modergram and four others from Frisal Chinnigam,” Birdi said.

This is the latest incident in a series of increasing attacks in the disputed territory.

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India and Pakistan both claim the entire Muslim-majority Kashmir region and have fought three wars for control of the Himalayan region.

Since 1989, rebel groups have been waging an insurgency demanding the region’s independence or its unification with Pakistan.

Tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels fell victim to the conflict.

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In June, nine Indian Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens injured when a gunman opened fire on a bus carrying them from a shrine in the southern region of Reasi.

It was one of the deadliest attacks in years and the first on Hindu pilgrims in Kashmir since 2017, when gunmen killed seven people in another ambush on a bus.

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