SRINAGAR: Four Indian soldiers and four suspected militants were killed in a gun battle near Srinagar on Wednesday, a senior police official said.
The militants attacked security forces carrying out a search operation in forests around Kupwara, 95 kilometres (km) north of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK), said Kupwara Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shamsher Hussain.
“Indian troops killed four armed militants. We also lost two army personnel and two police officials in the gun battle,” he said.
“At least one more militant is still fighting,” the officer said. Indian Army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia confirmed that firing was still going on in the area.
Armed encounters between rebels and government forces were frequent in the area, he said. The Indian Army killed more than 200 suspected rebels last year during what they claimed a ‘counter-insurgency’ offensive dubbed “Operation All Out”.