Indian forces in Kashmir killed four Muslim rebels, including two at the disputed border with Pakistan, as the separatist militants killed three other people overnight, police said today.
The Indian army shot dead two rebels today in the Poonch sector's Mendhar area, 85 kilometers (50 miles) southwest of Indian Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar, as they tried to cross the disputed border with Pakistan, police said.
Police said the men were members of Kashmir's leading rebel group Hizbul Mujahedin, which is made up largely of local Kashmiris but whose leadership is in Pakistani territory. India has demanded an end to infiltration of the disputed Himalayan frontier before it ends a more than half-year military standoff with Pakistan that has sent a million troops to the nuclear powers' common borders.
Security forces overnight killed two other rebels, who were identified as foreigners, in a fierce gunbattle in the northern district of Kupwara, police said.
Late yesterday, rebels killed Mr Ghulam Mohiudin, an activist of Indian Kashmir's ruling National Conference party at Qazipora, near Bandipora, 60 kilometers (38 miles) north of Srinagar, police said.
They said militants also killed two people they suspected of working for the Indian security forces, who have been battling since 1989 to put down more than one dozen rebel groups in the Himalayan province.
The killings come ahead of elections due in Indian-administered Kashmir by October 14th which hardline rebels have vowed to disrupt.