Pakistan accuses Indian troops of wounding 4 villagers
SRINAGAR, India: Separatists attacked a police squad in Indian-administered Kashmir, triggering a gunbattle that left three civilians, one officer and an assailant dead, police said Sunday.
The unit came under fire Saturday night as it reached a road accident site on a key highway connecting Kashmir Valley with the rest of India, said senior police officer S. P. Pani. He said the dead civilians were road construction officials of a private company.
Police believe two insurgents escaped under the cover of darkness after the officers swiftly retaliated in Malpora, a village 65 kilometers ( 40 miles) south of Srinagar, the main city in Indian- held Kashmir.
On Sunday, thousands of people participated in the burial of the militant who came from a village in the Indian portion of Kashmir. They chanted “Go India, go back” and “We want freedom” amid a gun salute by militants who joined the procession.
Insurgents have been fighting for Kashmir’s independence from India or merger with neighboring Pakistan since 1989.
Pakistani army, meanwhile, accused Indian troops of shooting and wounding at least four Pakistani villagers late Saturday near the UN- monitored Line of Control ( LoC) separating the two sides.
The statement said the Indians also targeted civilians in the village of Thruti with mortars and that Pakistani troops returned fire.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the separatists, a charge Islamabad denies. Pakistan says it only provides moral and diplomatic support to them. India and Pakistan have fought two wars for control of Kashmir.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the predominantly Muslim Kashmir valley, one of the world’s most heavily militarized areas.
Apart from armed militant groups, the roughly 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed in Kashmir are regularly involved in clashes with civilians, fueling growing resentment against New Delhi.
The clashes have become more frequent since the killing of popular separatist leader Burhan Wani last year, which sparked widespread unrest.