Indian troops kill two in Kashmir shoot-out

At least two people have been killed and an Indian policeman has been injured during a shoot-out in the Indian-controlled part of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.

Indian police sources said on Tuesday that the two suspected militants were killed in the village of Ratnipora, 35 kilometers (21 miles) south of the city of Srinagar, after Indian forces received a tip-off that the militants were in the area. Srinagar is the summer capital of the Indian-administered Kashmir.

An Indian police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that Indian soldiers came under fire after surrounding the area, adding that hundreds of villagers poured onto the streets and started throwing rocks at police when clashes erupted between the militants and the Indian troops.

It was also said the stone-throwing villagers intended to help militants escape.

The officer also said tear gas was used and live rounds were fired into the air to disperse the crowds before the soldiers managed to gun down the militants in paddy fields.

“Two terrorists were killed, and the encounter has ended. Both are locals," said Javaid Gillani, the inspector general of police for the region, adding, “There was a lot of stone pelting in the area.”

On August 9, an Indian police officer said that at least two suspected militants were killed in an exchange of fire with Indian soldiers after they entered the Keran sector, located 130 kilometers (80 miles) north of Srinagar.

An Indian soldier was killed and two others wounded in a gunfight that erupted after a group of militants crossed over from the Pakistani-administered Kashmir to the nearby Tangdhar sector on the Indian-controlled side late on August 8.

Kashmir lies at the heart of more than 67 years of hostility between India and Pakistan. Both neighbors claim the entire Kashmir as their own territory, but based on an agreement signed in 1947, they use the Line of Control (LoC), a de facto borderline, to divide the region between themselves.

The archrivals agreed to a ceasefire in 2003, and launched a peace process the following year. Since then, there have been sporadic clashes, with both sides accusing the other of violating the truce.

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