4 dead in Kashmir standoff between Indian forces and rebels

Another three soldiers have been killed in a stand-off with militants near Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir, military officials say.

Five Indian soldiers, including two army officers belonging to an elite commando division, along with one civilian, were also killed in the firefight. Whether it be Pathankot or occupied Kashmir this series of setbacks for the Indian army has certainly exposed their vulnerabilities.

Police said a civilian gardener injured during the initial crossfire also died.

Three soldiers, two policemen and a civilian died in the fighting, and more than 100 people were inside the training institute when it was taken over by the gunmen.

Since 1989 several rebel groups have been fighting Indian forces deployed in the Kashmir region, seeking either independence or a merger of the territory with neighbouring Pakistan.

Thomson ReutersIndian army soldiers take their positions near the site of a gun battle between Indian security forces and militants on the outskirts of Srinagar SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) – The death toll from a militant attack in India’s disputed Kashmir region rose to seven on Sunday, as security forces fought to flush attackers out of a building they had stormed.

Witnesses said the heavily armed militants had told students and staff at the government-run Entrepreneurship Development Institute to leave immediately on Saturday and “save themselves”. Another 13 paramilitary troops have been wounded.

According to Choudary, joint CRPF/police/army forces had entered the multi-story building in which the militants are holed up and are now in the process of clearing it room by room.

Hundreds of residents in the Pampore area, where the militants had holed up, demonstrated on the streets Sunday and Monday to support the rebels.

On Saturday, the militants fired automatic rifles as they ambushed a convoy of Indian paramilitary soldiers before taking refuge in the nearby government building. Ignoring government orders to stay away from the site, they chanted slogans against Indian rule in Kashmir.

Government troops fired tear gas and pellet guns to disperse the protesters. “All three militants have been killed”, Deputy Inspector General of Police Ghulam Hassan Bhat said.

Kashmir, claimed by both India and Pakistan in its entirety, has been a flashpoint for more than 60 years. The rival nations have fought three wars, two of them over control of Kashmir, since they won independence from British colonialists in 1947.