Two suspected rebels and two government militia killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir

NEW DELHI (AP) — Two suspected militants were killed in a shootout with government forces in Indian controlled Kashmirofficials said Friday, while attackers killed two members of a government-backed militia elsewhere in the disputed region.

The region, divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both, has seen an increase in violence in recent weeks.

The Indian military said a joint team of soldiers and police raided a village near the northwestern town of Sopore late Thursday after receiving information about the presence of a militant group.

The militants “fired indiscriminately” at the soldiers, leading to a shootout in which two were killed, the military said in a statement.

According to him, the military continues to search the area. There was no independent confirmation of the incident.

Meanwhile, the attackers killed two members government militia called the Village Defense Group in the remote southern district of Kishtwar late on Thursday, officials said.

Police blamed the killings on rebels fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir.

Both were abducted in a forested area where they had gone to graze cattle on Thursday. Their bodies were found late Thursday, police said.

The militia was originally formed in the 1990s to defend against anti-India insurgents in remote Himalayan villages where government forces could not quickly reach. As the insurgency in their areas weakened and some militia members became known for their brutality and rights abuses, the militia was largely disbanded.

However, last year, after the killing of seven Hindus in two attacks In a remote mountain village near the heavily militarized Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, authorities have revived a militia and begun rearming and training thousands of villagers, including some teenagers.

The Kashmir Tigers, which Indian officials say is an offshoot of the Pakistan-based militant group Jaish-e-Mohammad, claimed responsibility for the killings of the two in a statement on social media. This claim could not be independently verified.

Militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the insurgents’ goal of unifying the territory either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists that militancy in Kashmir is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charges and many Kashmiris consider it a legitimate struggle for freedom. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have died in the conflict.