SRINAGAR, Indian-held Kashmir
A suspected militant and an Indian soldier were killed in a gunbattle in Indian-held Kashmir on Wednesday.
Indian police said the clash started in the morning in the northern Rafiabad area after Indian forces cordoned off a village for a search operation.
"An army soldier was killed in the gunbattle," Gareeb Das, who heads police in northern Indian-held Kashmir, told Anadolu Agency. "The operation in the village has ended and the search operation is underway. We have killed one militant in the seven-hour operation."
He said the alleged militant was associated with the Lashkar-e-Islam group, which is from Pakistan but has a strong presence in Indian-held Kashmir.
Last week, the Indian army said they killed four suspected militants in the same area. The army also said that they arrested a Pakistan militant.
Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full.
The two countries have fought three wars -- in 1948, 1965 and 1971 -- since they were partitioned in 1947, two of which were fought over Kashmir.
Since 1989, Kashmiri resistance groups in Indian-held Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.
More than 70,000 Kashmiris have been killed so far in the violence, most of them by Indian forces. India maintains over half a million soldiers in the Indian-held Kashmir.
A part of Kashmir is also held by China.
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