SRINAGAR: Indian forces killed two senior Kashmiri commanders and three other fighters in two separate operations in disputed and occupied territories of Kashmir, police claimed on Tuesday.
Police and soldiers raided a village in Sopore area late on Monday and engaged a minimum of three alleged fighters hiding during a house during a gun battle, police said. Three local fighters were killed within the clash, which ended on Tuesday, police said. They said troops recovered a rifle and two pistols from the location .
Residents said troops used explosives to blast a civilian house during the fighting, a standard tactic employed by Indian troops in occupied Kashmir.
On Monday, a team of 10 counterinsurgency policemen wearing civilian clothes fatally shot chief of the Resistance Front group and his deputy in Srinagar, officials said. Inspector-General Vijay Kumar said the 2 , Abbas Sheikh and Saqib Manzoor, fired at police, but were killed during a brief retaliatory shootout. He called the killings an enormous success against fighters within the disputed region.
Witnesses, however, said armed men cornered the 2 during a playground and killed them at close home in assassination style.
Abbas was a senior commander who had been arrested twice by Indian forces but rejoined people fighting against Indian rule out the region. A police statement said he helped revive armed resistance in Srinagar and recruited a minimum of seven men to his group.
Police said the 2 were involved within the killing of several pro-India political activists, police officials and civilians and also administered attacks on government forces. Armed groups in occupied Kashmir are fighting New Delhi’s rule over the region since 1989. Many Kashmiris support their goal of uniting the territory either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.
