3 killed as rebels ambush Indian army convoy

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir

Three Indian army soldiers and a Kashmiri civilian woman were killed while five Indian army personnel were wounded in a militant attack in the early hours of Thursday in the Shopian district of southern Jammu and Kashmir.

According to Indian police, the attack took place in Chitragam village of Shopian, around 60 kilometers (37 miles) from Srinagar. Militants ambushed a group of Indian army soldiers as they were returning from a cordon and search operation in a nearby village.

“While returning from Kungnoo, the CASO (Cordon and Search operation) party was attacked by unknown militants at Mulu Chitragam at about 2 a.m. resulting in injuries to six army personnel including two officers. Three of them succumbed to their injuries,” the official statement read.

The militants, according to the police, managed to escape. Hizb ul Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attack.

According to figures released by the police, 29 Indian soldiers and 22 pro-independence militants have been killed in the first seven weeks of the year, making it one of the most bloody beginnings to a year for the Indian forces in recent times.

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 disputed Jammu and Kashmir.