Two Indian soldiers killed as Kashmir tensions escalate

SRINAGAR, India: Suspected rebels killed an Indian military officer and a trooper throughout a manhunt in Kashmir, the place 22 individuals have died in spiralling violence up to now two weeks, officers stated Friday.
The troopers had been chasing rebels in a forested space in southern Kashmir when a gunbattle erupted late Thursday, Col. Devendar Anand advised AFP.
The hunt within the Mendhar area had been intensified since 5 troopers had been killed close by three days earlier.
Violence within the Muslim-majority territory, additionally claimed by Pakistan, has escalated since final week, when armed militants staged assaults that left seven civilians useless, together with three from the minority Hindu and Sikh communities.
Some members of the minority communities have since left the restive Kashmir valley fearing they are going to be focused, media reported, echoing scenes throughout one other surge in violence within the Nineties when hundreds of Hindus fled the area.
Eight suspected rebels have additionally been killed in battles and army raids up to now two weeks, police stated. Greater than 120 have been killed this 12 months.
The household of one of many useless suspects has denied that the youth had any hyperlinks to latest assaults, saying he was detained by troopers and killed in a staged incident in custody.
Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought two wars over the Himalayan area.
An armed rise up erupted in Indian Kashmir in 1989 and tens of hundreds have been killed since. Separatist teams and events demand independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.
Tensions have additionally risen because the Hindu nationalist authorities ended the area’s semi-autonomy and put it beneath direct central management in August 2019.
Pakistan denies India’s repeated accusations that it helps the rebels.