SRINAGAR (Reuters) - Indian troops and separatist militants clashed in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Thursday and nine people were killed, officials said, the latest casualties in a new phase of violence in the 30-year insurgency.

People offer funeral prayers for Naseer Ahmad Pandit, a separatist militant, after he was killed in a gun battle with Indian soldiers, in Karimabad village in south Kashmir's Pulwama district May 16, 2019. REUTERS/Younis Khaliq

In one of the deadliest clashes since the Feb. 14 suicide bomb attack in the valley, three Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) militants, including a Pakistani commander, two members of the local Hizbul Mujahideen, two Indian soldiers and two civilians were killed.

Tension in Muslim-majority Kashmir has been high since the suicide bomb attack by the Pakistan-based JeM militant group killed at least 40 Indian paramilitary police.

Prime Minister Narendra Modi gave troops a “free hand” to respond to the attack, and near-daily searches in villages in Kashmir since then have often triggered violent confrontations, with civilians caught in crossfire to the alarm of rights groups.

Modi’s tough response to the bomb attack, which included an air strike against what India said was a militant camp in Pakistan, is believed to have given his party a boost in a general election that began on April 11 and ends on May 19.

JEM leaders were killed in a gun battle in Dalipora, a village in south Kashmir, where clashes began between the militant group and Indian soldiers in the early hours, while Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed in a separate clash in the Handew area of south Kashmir’s Shopian district.

ROCKS AND TEARGAS

Villagers said a civilian, who they identified as Rayees Ahmad Dar, 32, was killed after Indian soldiers sent him to search a house where militants were believed to be hiding. Villagers in the area have complained before about the army using civilians in searches.

A police spokesman said Dar was killed in indiscriminate firing by the militants and denied he had been sent on a search.

After the clash, villagers threw rocks at security forces, who responded with teargas, while lawyers in the state’s high court went on strike in protest over Dar’s death.

Police said seven people had been arrested and a curfew imposed on a town in the region after a Muslim man transporting horses was shot dead, allegedly by a Hindu group wanting to protect the rights of cows, which they consider sacred.

Yasir Hussain told Reuters he was one of three men confronted overnight by the group on the outskirts of Bhaderwah.

“They alleged that we are cow smugglers, but I directed my torch towards the horses,” he said. “They fired at us and we fled.”

Kashmir is at the heart of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan. The nuclear-armed neighbours both claim it in full but rule it in part.

The rivals have fought three wars since independence, two of them over the Himalayan region, and came close to another after the February bomb attack.

Separatist militants, who India says are backed by Pakistan, have been fighting Indian security forces since 1989. Pakistan denies supporting the insurgents.

“Even in the holy month of Ramadan there is no let up in killings and bloodshed in Kashmir as civilians, armed youth or even Indian forces are getting killed,” Kashmir’s main separatist political group, the Joint Resistance Leadership, said in a statement. It called for a general strike in Kashmir on Friday. </s> SRINAGAR: While a police statement said that three militants were killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district, it was confirmed later that one of the victims was a civilian.

The police said in a statement on Thursday that three militants were killed in the gunfight that took place earlier in the day in Handew village.

While two victims were identified as Yawar Mushtaq and Shakeel Ahmed, both Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militants from Shopian, the third was identified as a civilian, Ishtiyaq Ahmed Bhat.

A soldier, Rohit Kumar Yadav who was injured in the gunfight, succumbed to his wounds on Thursday night in the Army's 92 base hospital in Srinagar, the police said.

In Thursday's two gunfights in Pulwama and Shopian districts killed a total of five militants, two civilians and two soldiers.

Three Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militants, including a top commander identified as a Pakistan national Khalid Bhai, a civilian and a soldier were killed in a gunfight in Dalipora village of Pulwama.

Police said Khalid Bhai had masterminded the 2017 attack on the Lethpora CRPF camp in Pulwama district in which five troopers were killed.

In a third shootout between the security forces and militants in Kupwara's Kandi forests on Thursday, there were no reports of any casualty. </s> New Delhi (Sputnik): In a fierce gunfight between security forces and terrorists that lasted over five hours, five people including an Indian soldier and a civilian were killed in Pulwama in southern Kashmir on Thursday. A local official told Sputnik that three alleged terrorists believed to be from Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) were killed in the gunfight that broke out shortly before dawn after the security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in Dalipora.

READ MORE: Indian Forces Kill Three Militants in Kashmir, 20 Hurt Protesting the Move

READ MORE: Two Terrorists Killed in Shootout with Indian Security Forces in Kashmir

Police said that two more soldiers and a civilian were injured in the incident. A huge cache of weapons were recovered. The internet has been blacked out in the area to avoid more violence.

According to data available on the South Asia Terrorism Portal, at least 78 terrorists have been eliminated in counter-terror operations by Indian security forces in 2019. Additionally, some 59 soldiers and 14 civilians have been killed in terrorist attacks this year. </s> At least four soldiers died Monday in a fierce gunfight with rebels in Indian-administered Kashmir just four days after a suicide bomber killed 41 paramilitaries in the troubled territory, officials said.

One soldier and one civilian were also critically wounded in the shootout as troops launched a search operation in Pulwama district where the suicide bomber struck on Thursday.

"Four soldiers were killed during the shootout and another one is injured," a senior police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity.

The official said the soldiers fired warning shots and the militants fired back, unleashing the firefight in the district 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of the main city of Srinagar.

The official added that the rebels were believed to have escaped.

Government forces have launched a massive hunt for militants in parts of the disputed region since Thursday's bombing that India has blamed on Pakistan.

An explosives-packed van rammed a convoy transporting 2,500 security forces in the deadliest attack in Kashmir in 30 years.

Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since independence from Britain in 1947. Both countries, which have fought two wars over the territory, claim all of Kashmir.

Tens of thousands of people, mainly civilians, have died in Kashmir since an armed rebellion broke out in 1989. </s> SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - Five civilians were killed and more than 50 wounded when Indian troops opened fire on hundreds of people who pelted them with stones as they carried out an operation against militants in Kashmir, a senior police official said.

The police official, who asked not to be identified as he is not authorized to speak to the media, said at least 10 of the wounded protesters were hit by bullets and four were in a critical condition.

Indian security services killed five militants in an operation in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Sunday, including Saddam Padder, a Hizbul Mujahideen commander, and Mohammad Rafi Bhat, a Kashmiri professor with alleged ties to militant groups, the Director General of Police in Kashmir, S.P. Vaid, said.

The militants were killed in a gunbattle lasting several hours in the Shopian district in Kashmir, police officials said.

A police spokesman said the circumstances surrounding the death of civilians was being investigated.

Security forces killed four civilians in a village in Kashmir in April when they opened fire on protesters pelting them with stones to stop an operation against militants, police officials said.

The Joint Resistance Leadership of separatists on Sunday asked people to march to the chief minister’s office in Srinagar on Monday to protest against the bloodshed.

“Words fail to express the pain of the tragedy unfolding in Shopian as the count of the brutally killed by Indian forces keeps rising,” said Hurriyat Conference chairman Mirwaiz Umar Farooq.

Muslim separatists have been waging a violent campaign against Indian rule since the late 1980s in Indian-held Kashmir, the only Muslim majority state in mostly Hindu India.

New Delhi accuses Pakistan of covertly supporting the long-running separatist insurgency.

The nuclear-armed South Asian rivals have fought two of their three wars over the divided Himalayan region.

Internet services in the area were suspended in the aftermath of Sunday’s killings, a Reuters witness said, and train services have been suspended.

Violence has increased in the last two months and this year so far 131 people have been killed in Kashmir, including 72 militants, 31 civilians and 28 Indian security personnel. </s> Two separate gun battles between rebels and government forces in restive Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday left eight dead including six suspected rebels, police said.

A firefight broke out before dawn when government forces besieged a residential area in the city of Pulwama after being told about the presence of anti-India insurgents.

Police said that militants fired at the soldiers and a young man, in whose house the militants were hiding, was killed in the crossfire.

"After the security forces retaliated, three terrorists were killed in the ensuing encounter and their bodies retrieved," a police statement said, referring to the suspected rebels.

The slain militants belonged to Pakistan based Jaishe-e-Mohammad militant group, two of whom were locals while the other was a Pakistani citizen, the statement added.

The dead civilian's brother was also wounded during the gun battle.

Soldiers surrounded an orchard in neighbouring Shopian district where a group of rebels were hiding, sparking another fierce gun battle that lasted hours and ended with the deaths of three militants.

"All the three terrorists found in the orchard were killed in the encounter," regional inspector general of police Swayam Prakash Pani told AFP.

Pani said both the shootouts were a result of deliberate "counter-terrorist operations".

Yet another gun battle broke out in the forests of frontier Kupwara area near the heavily militarised Line of Control that divides the disputed region between India and Pakistan, a police officer said. No casualties were reported in that incident.

Rebel groups have for decades fought against Indian soldiers deployed in the part of Kashmir controlled by New Delhi, seeking the Himalayan territory's merger with Pakistan or outright independence.

The conflict has left tens of thousands dead, mostly civilians.

At least 83 rebels have been killed in armed clashes with Indian forces so far this year.

Last year was the deadliest in a decade when around 600 were killed including soldiers, rebels and civilians.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British rule of the subcontinent in 1947. Both claim the territory in full.

New Delhi regularly blames Pakistan for helping the rebels, an allegation denied by Islamabad, which says it only provides moral and diplomatic support to a Kashmiri struggle for right to self-determination. </s> Indian Army Saturday confirmed killing three terrorists belonging to militant group Hijbul Mujahideen in Pulwama district of Jammu & Kashmir, including Zahoor Thokar. A soldier of Indian Army’s 55RR has also been martyred in the encounter. Zahoor Thokar, who was also known as Major Thokar, had run away from a territorial unit of Indian Army on 6 July last year along with his weapon, and he was reportedly involved in the brutal killing of another army soldier Aurangzeb in June this year.

Soldiers from Indian Army’s 55 Rashtriya Rifles unit along with Jawans from 182nd and 183rd battalion of CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police have launched a cordon and search operation in Kharpora Sirnoo village in Pulwama district in South Kashmir, some 40 kilometers away from summer capital Srinagar following a tip off that led to this encounter.

Security forces also faced protests during the operations as hundreds of protesters had gathered at the encounter site, pelting stones on security forces engaged in the operation. Internet Services have also been snapped in the region. The bodies of terrorists have been recovered along with the arms and ammunition. </s> Indian soldiers celebrate while returning from a gunfight in Badigam, a village in Kashmir’s Shopian district, where five suspected militants were killed, May 6, 2018.

Authorities beefed up security in Indian Kashmir on Monday after 17 people were killed in gun battles and attacks over the weekend, including a university professor-turned suspected militant, and more than 100 were injured in protests.

But the situation remained tense as at least a dozen anti-India protesters were injured in fresh street clashes on Monday in south Kashmir’s Shopian district.

A day earlier, five civilians and five suspected militants, including the professor, Mohammad Rafi Bhat, and a top Hizbul Mujahideen separatist, Saddam Padder, were killed during a counter-insurgency operation, officials said. Local media described Padder as a top recruiter for the militant organization.

Meanwhile, clashes in the disputed Himalayan region left more than 100 anti-India protesters injured on Sunday, a day after three Lashkar-e-Toiba militants and a civilian were killed during a gunfight with security forces in Srinagar.

Also on Saturday suspected militants shot and killed three civilians in north Kashmir’s Bandipora and Sopore towns. The victims were suspected of working as informers for security forces, a police official told BenarNews on condition of anonymity.

Internet service remained suspended across the region for a second day on Monday, leading authorities to order schools closed and to postpone university examinations indefinitely even as police played down the protests.

“Barring a few minor incidents of stone throwing Monday morning, the situation is under control in south Kashmir,” Amit Kumar, deputy inspector general of police, told BenarNews.

“There will be further improvement in the situation in coming days. Security has been strengthened especially in sensitive areas of south Kashmir, including Shopian district, to maintain order. Police expect youths not to resort to violence and help maintain peace,” he added.

Separatists extended their shutdown call for Tuesday against what they described as extra-judicial killings at the hands of Indian security forces in the region, which has seen about 70,000 killed during an insurgency over the last three decades. Both India and arch rival Pakistan have contending territorial claims on Kashmir and have fought wars over it.

On Monday, Mehbooba Mufti, the chief minister of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir, urged parents to protect their children.

“I am shocked by yesterday’s killings. I appeal to Kashmiri people and also to the rest of the country to save our children from losing their lives to violence,” Mufti told reporters in Srinagar.

“God brought us into this world to live a good life and not throw away our lives to violence. Unfortunately stones and guns are in the hands of poor children. I appeal government of India too to play its role in saving lives of Kashmiri youths,” she said.

Professor contacted family

Two days after he went missing from Kashmir University where he taught sociology for about 18 months, Bhat, 30, was declared dead along with four other suspected militants following a gunbattle in Shopian on Sunday.

Family members said they did not know the professor who completed his doctorate in November 2017 had joined militants, and were shocked to get a phone call on Sunday morning.

“I may have hurt you, please forgive me. I am sorry I cannot see you ever as I am fighting a gun-battle and may meet Almighty God soon,” Bhat’s brother, Imtiyaz Ahmad Bhat, quoted him as having said minutes before he died in the gun battle.

“He talked briefly to our father and to other family members including his wife by phone from the gun fight site seeking forgiveness before putting the phone down never to receive our calls again. Sometime later police asked us to go to the gunfight site to convince him to surrender but before we could have reached there, all five militants had attained martyrdom,” he told BenarNews.

On Friday, Bhat who was married three years ago, delivered what turned out to be his last lecture at the university.

“He was a great teacher and human being. He would give his best to the students and advise them to work hard and excel in studies,” Masood Ahmad, a student at department of sociology told BenarNews.

Police are trying to determine what led to Bhat’s radicalization.

“Our initial investigations suggest his two cousins were killed in the past and this may have motivated him to join the militants to avenge the killings,” S.P. Vaid, Indian Kashmir’s police chief, told BenarNews. </s> Authorities lifted a curfew in Indian-administered Kashmir after 52 days of lockdown amid deadly violence, but street clashes broke out again Monday between protesters and security forces.

Restrictions were lifted throughout most of the tense Kashmir Valley including the main city of Sringar "following improvement in the situation", police said in a statement late Sunday.

It was unclear whether the relaxation of restrictions would continue in the northern Himalayan region, where 68 civilians and two police officers have been killed since the unrest erupted last month.

Schools and businesses remained closed on Monday and many streets in Srinagar were largely deserted as troops in riot gear patrolled on foot.

Hundreds of residents rallied in other parts of Srinagar and in the northern town of Bandipora after the curfew was lifted, throwing stones at security forces who fired live rounds into the air and tear gas to disperse them, witnesses and an AFP photographer said.

The current violence, the worst to hit the region since 2010, was triggered by the July 8 killing of a popular rebel leader, Burhan Wani, in a gunbattle with soldiers.

Several rebel groups including Wani's Hizbul Mujahideen have for decades fought some 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed in the territory, demanding independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan.

Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi appealed for calm in the region on the weekend, criticising those responsible for encouraging youngsters to become involved in the recent unrest.

Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since their independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the Himalayan territory in full.

Tens of thousands, mostly civilians, have died in the fighting since the armed rebellion against Indian rule began in 1989.
Multiple people are killed, including three militants, two Mujahideen, two civilians and two Indian soldiers, in Kashmir after a shootout.