SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Militants killed five Indian paramilitary police on Wednesday in an attack on security forces deployed in a Kashmiri town, a senior police officer said.

Three paramilitaries, a local policeman and a woman bystander were wounded, and one militant was killed when the police returned fire, he said.

The attack in Anantnag town was claimed by Al Umar Mujahideen, an Islamist militant group based in Kashmir. It was the deadliest in Indian Kashmir since February, when a suicide bomber rammed an explosive-laden car into a bus, killing 40 paramilitary police.

That bombing raised tensions between nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan, part of whose border runs through the disputed, Muslim-majority region.

Separately on Wednesday, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s cabinet agreed to extend direct federal rule over the state of Jammu and Kashmir.

The Himalayan region has been being directly governed by New Delhi since 2018, after Modi’s Hindu nationalist Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) quit a regional coalition and called for federal authorities to take control.

Kashmir is claimed in its entirety by Pakistan, and Indian forces have struggled to quell a revolt there for decades.

India blames Pakistan for fomenting the rebellion in its only Muslim-majority state, while Pakistan says it only provides moral support to the insurgency. </s> Two paramilitary CRPF men, who were injured in a militant attack in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, succumbed to injuries on Wednesday.

An official said that two CRPF men succumbed to injuries at the district hospital Anantnag while one CRPF man is under treatment there.

Earlier, a CRPF man was brought dead to the hospital.

Station House Officer of Police Anantnag, who sustained bullet wound in chest, has been taken to Srinagar for specialised treatment. A girl was also injured and she is being treated at district hospital Anantnag

Police wrote on Twitter that there was an exchange of fire between forces and militants in Anantnag.

“Area is under cordon,” police said. </s> Four Indian soldiers died in a fierce battle with Kashmir militants on Monday just days after a suicide bomber killed at least 41 paramilitaries in the troubled territory, officials said.

The confrontation piled more pressure on the Indian government, which has blamed Pakistan for Thursday’s suicide attack on a paramilitary convoy that sparked widespread calls for action against the country’s neighbour and nuclear arch-rival.

Shooting continued for hours after military and police sources reported that four soldiers, two militants and a civilian were killed in Pulwama district, south of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-administered Kashmir.

Police said that security forces killed two suspected organisers of the attack, who were both Pakistani nationals and members of JeM.

With tension mounting, Pakistan withdrew its envoy to India for consultations, a spokesman for Pakistan’s foreign ministry said on Twitter on Monday.

An army major was among the dead, according to the Indian army. Police said another soldier and a civilian were critically wounded.

Hundreds of soldiers raided villages and fired warning shots at a suspected militant hideout, unleashing the firefight in the village of Pinglan. </s> Six militants, an Indian soldier and a civilian were killed in two separate gun battles in Jammu and Kashmir’s south on Thursday, police said.

In a statement, the police said three militants, an Indian army soldier, and a civilian were killed in a gunfight in Pulwama district when Indian forces a joint group of army, paramilitary and police launched a cordon and search operation in the Dalipora village.

“Three terrorists were killed in the ensuing encounter and their bodies were retrieved from the site of the encounter,” said the police statement. Police identified two of the slain militants as Naseer Pandith and Umar Mir, both were Kashmiri locals, and named the third militant Khalid, a Pakistani citizen. The militants were linked to the Jaish-e-Muhammad militant outfit, according to the police.

Abdul Rashid Para, a medical superintendent of the Pulwama district hospital, confirmed the death of a 25-year-old civilian, identified as Rayees Ahmad Dar.

According to Dar’s family, he and his brother were taken away from their home and used as human shields by the Indian forces during the gunfight. Dar’s brother was also wounded and has been hospitalized. Later in the day, three more militants were killed in a gun battle in Shopian.

“In the encounter, 3 terrorists were killed and their bodies were retrieved from the site of encounter. The identities and affiliations of the slain terrorists is being ascertained,” police said in another statement.

Jammu and Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China. </s> SRINAGAR, KASHMIR (DPA) - Three suspected militants and an Indian Army soldier were killed on Thursday (May 16) in a counter-insurgency operation in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir state, police said.

A civilian was also killed in the crossfire between the rebels and security forces, a local police official said.

The Indian Army's Northern Command said in a Twitter post that three "terrorists" had been killed and weapons have been confiscated.

The incident kicked off when a team made up of army, police and paramilitary forces cordoned off the Dalipora area after receiving information on the presence of militants. As the joint team intensified its search, the militants opened fire.

Two soldiers were injured in the ensuing gun battle. One of them succumbed to injuries as he was being airlifted to the army hospital in Srinagar. A civilian was killed and his brother injured in the crossfire, police said.

Search and sanitisation operations were being carried out. A curfew has been imposed in the area as hundreds of local people tried to march to the site of the encounter, NDTV news channel reported.

Internet services were suspended in the district.

Indian security forces have intensified anti-insurgency operations in the region after a suicide bombing killed 40 paramilitary troopers on a highway in Pulwama on Feb 14.

Tensions between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan escalated after the bombing following which India launched an airstrike on what it claimed was a rebel camp inside Pakistan. </s> Six civilians were killed in Indian-administered Kashmir when police opened fire on protesters who stormed polling stations during a byelection for a parliamentary seat, a top officer has said.



State and paramilitary police fired bullets and shotgun pellets as thousands of protesters who were shouting slogans against Indian rule charged into voting booths in Budgam district near the main city of Srinagar.

“Violent protests happened at many places in Budgam. Protesters damaged and snatched EVMs [electronic voting machines] at some places,” Shantmanu, the state’s chief electoral officer who uses one name.

“It was not a good day for all of us. Six civilians were killed and 70 were wounded.”

Hospital sources in Srinagar said that many of the injured had gunshot wounds.

Shantmanu said more than 100 government personnel, including police and paramilitary officers injured in the clashes.

Two of the civilian deaths occurred in the Charare-e-Sharif area of Budgam when the paramilitary border security force fired at protesters, he said.

Another person was killed in the Beerwah area when paramilitary officers opened fire at acrowd after people started throwing stones.

Three more were killed in the day-long clashes, with two of them succumbing to multiple pellet injuries from the shotguns which Indian paramilitary forces use in Kashmir for crowd control.

Polling had to be halted in more than dozen places amid a call for a boycott of the byelection by top Kashmiri separatist leaders opposed to Indian rule.

Only 6.5%of voters turned out to cast their ballot, Shantmanu said, the lowest ever participation recorded in any election in the disputed territory.

Farooq Abdullah, a former chief minister of the state who is contesting the Srinagar seat, lambasted the government for its failure to maintain law and order.

“Elections should have been peaceful. This government has failed in giving a peaceful atmosphere for people to come and vote,” he told reporters.

Authorities suspended internet services across the Kashmir Valley in the run-up to the polling because of concerns about widespread protests.

Police had also detained hundreds of young people and separatist activists, sources told AFP.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British rule in 1947. Both countries claim the disputed territory in its entirety.

Rebel groups in Indian Kashmir have for decades battled troops and police, demanding independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan.

About 500,000 Indian soldiers are deployed in the region.

An additional 20,000 paramilitary personnel were sent in before Sunday’s election.

Armed encounters between rebels and government forces have become more frequent since the killing of a popular rebel leader by security forces last July sparked widespread unrest.

Police and army officials say dozens of local youths have joined the rebel ranks since then.

At least 29 armed militants, mostly locals, have died fighting government forces this year. </s> QUETTA, Pakistan (AP) — Attacks in Pakistan on Monday killed six members of the country's paramilitary force and two policemen, officials said.

In southwestern Baluchistan province, gunmen ambushed a convoy of paramilitary troops and wounded two in an ambush on a security convoy in the country's southwest.

Later Monday, an attack in the country's North Waziristan region left two policemen dead.

Hasil Khan, a local administrator in Awaran district of Baluchistan, said the convoy came under an attack by gun fire and rocket-propelled grenades in the district's Mashki area. The troops were on patrol when the attack happened, Khan said, adding that a search was underway for the attackers.

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack but blame will likely fall on Baluch separatists fighting in the region.

Islamic militants also operate in Baluchistan province, which has been the scene of low level insurgency for over a decade. The separatists demand a larger share of provincial resources or complete autonomy from Islamabad.

In North Waziristan, the attack that killed two policemen took place in the Boya area, according to Mohammad Ayaz Khan, the region's top government administrator.

He said a government official, Rehmat Hussain, and a policeman were also wounded in the attack.

Last month, government official Hameedullah Khan was killed in a similar attack in the same area. </s> Violence erupts in Kashmir after security forces kill militants, say police

People shout slogans as they gather around the body of Shabir Ahmad, a suspected militant who was killed in a gunbattle with Indian security forces, during his funeral at Aghanzipora village, in South Kashmir's Pulwama district, March 16, 2018. — ReuterSRINAGAR, April 1 — At least 12 people, including eight suspected militants, were killed in gun battles with Indian security forces in southern Kashmir, police officials said, in one of the most violent days in the restive region this year.

Two Indian soldiers and two civilians were also killed, and more than 30 people were injured when hundreds of protesters pelted stones at the security forces to disrupt their anti-militant operations, police said.

Troops used tear gas and pellet guns to disperse the crowd, and later opened fire. Most of the injured sustained pellet wounds but six had gunshot wounds, said S.P. Vaid, the director general of the state police.

Local residents put the number of injured at over 50.

Muslim separatists have been waging a violent campaign against Indian rule since the late 1980s in Indian-held Kashmir.

Vaid said the army received information on Saturday night about militants hiding in an area near Dragad village in Shopian district, about 50 km (30 miles) south of Kashmir’s capital of Srinagar.

“In Dragad, 7 bodies of militants were recovered including top commanders. They were killed in a gun battle,” Vaid said, adding that the owner of the house in which the militants were trapped was also killed.

Another militant was killed in Dialgam village in Anantnag district, about 60 km (37 miles) south of Srinagar, while one was caught alive, he said.

Two Indian soldiers and one civilian were killed in another gun battle in Kachdoora village, which is also in Shopian district, where a battle with a separate group of 4-5 militants was ongoing, Vaid said. Train services to south Kashmir have been suspended as a precautionary measure, a railways official said, and internet services in five districts have also been blocked.

In south Kashmir’s Pulwama district the local administration has imposed restrictions on the movement of people and vehicles to prevent any violence. — Reuters </s> SRINAGAR (REUTERS) - Four Indian soldiers and a civilian were killed in a gunbattle in disputed Kashmir on Monday (Feb 18), a police official said, as India launched a hunt for suspected members of an Islamist militant group that killed 44 Indian paramilitary police last week.

A police spokesman in the northern state of Jammu & Kashmir said Indian troops had cordoned off Pinglan village in Kashmir's Pulwama district, where a suicide bomber rammed into a convoy of paramilitary police on Thursday (Feb 14).

Another state police official, who declined to be identified because the operation is not yet over, said information had been received about the presence of up to three militants from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, including foreigners, inside a house in the village.

The second police official said four soldiers and a civilian were killed in the gunbattle.

"There was an exchange of fire early this morning that wounded the army men and the owner of the house. They died later," said official said.

An indefinite curfew has been imposed in Pulwama and police have asked people to stay indoors.

Mr Mohammad Yunis, a journalist in Pulwama, said troops were searching the village and civilians trapped in adjacent houses were being evacuated.

Pakistan has denied any links to the attack on the convoy of reserve police last week.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility, is claimed in its entirety by India and Pakistan but is ruled in part by both south Asian countries.

Indian forces have detained about 23 men suspected of links to Jaish, which has claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack on Indian security forces in decades.
Militants kill five Indian paramilitary police in Anantnag district. Three paramilitaries, a local policeman and a woman bystander are wounded, and one militant is killed.