Five killed in the Indian administrated Kashmir clashes

Armed clashes in Indian-administrated Kashmir have left three militants and two Indian forces dead.

A fierce firefight broke out after hundreds of Indian forces surrounded Awneera, a village about 50 kilometers south of the main city of Srinagar, on Saturday following a tip-off about armed militants in the area.

A police officer, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the militants were identified as locals.

As news of the militants’ deaths spread, hundreds of residents from neighboring villages took to the streets in protest, throwing stones at soldiers and chanting slogans against Indian rule.

In a separate incident early on Sunday, militants fired at an army convoy in the northern area of Hajin and injured two police officers and a soldier, the same police officer said.

On Saturday, a civilian and a soldier were killed in an exchange of gunfire between Indian and Pakistani forces along the border Line of Contact (LOC), which divides Kashmir between the two rivaling nuclear-armed neighbors.

SS