Indian forces murder two Kashmir rebels

Sources claim that a confrontation with government forces in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Saturday resulted in the deaths of two suspected terrorists. Troops reportedly engaged in gunfire in the largest city of the disputed territory.

The Indian military said in a statement that troops stopped a group of terrorists in a wooded area in the southern Anantnag region on Saturday, sparking a gunfight that resulted in the deaths of two rebels.
Separately, police and paramilitary soldiers engaged in gunfire with at least one militant in Srinagar, the region’s capital, after forces roped off an area following a tip that a militant was hiding in a house.

As is customary for Indian troops in the Himalayan region, residents claimed the troops set fire to the house where the rebel was holed up. The incident was not independently confirmed.
Although they each control a portion of Kashmir, India and Pakistan both assert full territorial claims. Since gaining independence from British colonial authority in 1947, the nuclear-armed enemies have engaged in two of their three wars over the region.

Since 1989, militants in the Indian-controlled region of Kashmir have opposed the government of New Delhi. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the insurgents’ aim to unite the region, either under Pakistani control or as an independent nation.

India maintains that Pakistan is supporting the insurgency in Kashmir as terrorism. Many Kashmiris view the conflict as a justified struggle for liberation, and Pakistan refutes the accusation. The violence has claimed the lives of tens of thousands of civilians, insurgents, and government soldiers.