Indian soldiers kill two in Kashmir near Pakistan border
International Desk
Indian soldiers killed two fighters in Kashmir along the heavily militarised frontier with Pakistan as they attempted to cross into the Indian-administered part of the disputed territory, the army said Friday.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the territory in full.
An "intense and heavy firefight" was triggered Thursday night between soldiers and "infiltrating terrorists" near the de facto border known as the Line of Control (LoC), the Indian army's White Knight Corps said in a statement on social media.
The overnight fighting led "to the neutralization of two terrorists", the statement said, referring to the suspected rebels.
Weapons and "war-like stores" were recovered from the site, the army said, but it was not clear if the bodies of slain fighters were also retrieved.
The incident could not be independently verified.
India has a permanent deployment of more than half a million soldiers in the territory, and rebel groups have fought for decades demanding independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan.
Fighting has decreased since 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi's government imposed direct control of the territory from New Delhi after cancelling its partial autonomy.
But last year thousands of additional troops, including special forces, were deployed across the southern mountainous areas following a series of deadly rebel attacks that left more than 50 soldiers dead in three years.
India regularly blames Pakistan for pushing rebels across the LoC to launch attacks on Indian forces.
Islamabad denies the allegation, saying it only supports Kashmir's struggle for self-determination.
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