SRINAGAR, India (AP) Indian army and police forces battled militants overnight in Kashmir, killing three of them, the army said Tuesday, a day after militants killed a top police official in the disputed Himalayan region.
Indian forces launched the joint operation Monday night after learning that militants were hiding in a forest village in the Handwara region, army spokesman Lieut. Colonel Nitin Narhar Joshi said.
After the two sides exchanged gunfire for hours, three rebels were killed early Tuesday, Narhar said. There were no casualties reported among the troops.
None of the nearly half-dozen rebel groups in the region has issued any statement about the fighting, which followed hours after militants killed a top counterinsurgency official and wounded two other police officers and a civilian shopkeeper in an audacious attack in a crowded market on Monday.
Kashmir has been in turmoil since rebels launched an armed uprising in 1989, leading to a crackdown by Indian forces. Some 68,000 people have been killed in the conflict, though widespread resentment against Indian rule in the region is now mainly expressed through street protests.
