Srinagar, India---Two suspected rebels were killed on Thursday in a fierce gun fight with government troops in a forested area of the disputed Indian Kashmir region, police said.
Clashes erupted when police and army officers launched a hunt for the militants after receiving "specific information" they were in the Gadar forest near the main city of Srinagar.
"They came under fire triggering a gun fight. Two militants have been killed so far," a top police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to media.
He said two or three more militants were still fighting the government forces.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the two countries won independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the picturesque Himalayan territory in full.
Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have been killed since 1989, when rebel groups started fighting Indian government troops for independence or a merger with Pakistan.
Indian army chief Dalbir Singh Suhag on Tuesday accused Pakistan of supporting a "proxy war" against India.
At least two dozen people -- including civilians and soldiers on both sides -- have been killed and thousands living near the border have fled their homes since fighting erupted between the countries in October.
Both sides have been exchanging intermittent fire across an undisputed part of their border in the south of Kashmir. Fighting picked up again early this month after a brief respite.
Thursday's gun battle also comes within 24 hours of another in Sopore town in the north of the region that left one suspected rebel dead after a six-hour fight with government forces.
India routinely accuses Pakistan of supporting armed militants, including by providing covering fire as they cross the border -- a charge Islamabad denies.
AFP
