Nine killed on Kashmir de facto border

Nine suspected militants trying to sneak into Indian-administered Kashmir have been killed in a gunfight with Indian troops on the de facto border, officials say.

“The army has foiled a major infiltration attempt by killing nine militants who were trying to infiltrate into Kashmir from across the Line of Control (LoC),” army spokesman J.S. Brar told AFP.

The gun battle erupted late Sunday in western Uri sector after troops noticed a group of militants trying to sneak in from Pakistan-controlled Kashmir under the cover of darkness.

The firefight is still continuing in the dense forest, said Brar, adding that army reinforcements had been sent to the scene of the fighting.

In the past, India had accused the Pakistani army of providing covering fire for infiltrating militants, the charges Islamabad denies.

The LoC divides the volatile region of Kashmir into India- and Pakistan-controlled areas. The line is 720 kilometers long, running in a non-linear way over rugged terrain near Jammu in the southwest up to glacial heights of the Himalayas near China’s Sinkiang province in the northeast.