Top rebel commander killed by Indian forces in Kashmir
Indian government forces have killed a top rebel commander and his aide in disputed Kashmir, and shut down mobile phone and mobile internet services during subsequent anti-India protests.
Riyaz Naikoo, 35, was the chief of operations of the region’s largest indigenous rebel group, Hizbul Mujahideen, which has spearheaded an armed rebellion against Indian rule.
India’s security officials and some members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata party hailed his death as a major victory, but the killing could spark more unrest.
A former maths teacher, Naikoo was one of the region’s most-hunted militants, shooting to prominence after a 2016 uprising that followed the killing of the group’s charismatic leader, Burhan Wani.
After Wani’s death, Naikoo helped to breathe new life into the militant movement and unified rebel ranks, which had been divided by splinter factions.
Police and army soldiers in armoured vehicles launched an operation in the Awantipora area in southern Kashmir late on Tuesday, using earth movers to dig up patches of land, including a school playground, looking for underground hideouts, residents said.
Troops blasted at least two civilian homes with explosives, a common tactic employed by Indian troops in Kashmir.
As the government forces began house-to-house searches in the area, they came under gunfire from rebels, police said. Naikoo and another militant were killed in the ensuing firefight, a police official added.
Government forces fired bullets, shotgun pellets and teargas at a large anti-India protest which began shortly after the news of the rebel leader’s killing spread. At least a dozen civilians were injured in the clashes, locals and medics said.
Authorities did not hand over the bodies of the two killed rebels to their families in line with a new government policy designed to thwart large-scale funerals that had become a norm and a rallying point for anti-India protests.
Authorities blocked mobile internet service, a common Indian tactic in the region when such fighting erupts. As the fighting continued and word spread that Naikoo was trapped, they also stopped mobile phone services.
In 2019, the government imposed a total communication blackout during an unprecedented military crackdown in the strife-torn region.
India has stepped up its counterinsurgency operations across Kashmir in recent months during a coronavirus lockdown. Militants have also continued their attacks on government forces and alleged informants. More than two dozen militants and about a dozen Indian troops were killed in April, the most in any month since August 2019, when India revoked the region’s semi-autonomous status and statehood and imposed direct federal rule.