Militant killed after Kashmir village siege

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir

A militant was killed in a gunfight with the government forces in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said Wednesday.

In a series of tweets, the police said Indian forces laid siege to Arampora village in northern Baramulla district on Tuesday night after reports that militants were present in the area.

Police teams, Indian army soldiers, and paramilitary troopers were part of the overnight operation.

A gunfight broke out around noon on Wednesday in which a Kashmiri militant, identified as Sajjad Ahmad Dar, was killed.

The deceased, the police said, motivated Kashmiri youth to join the militancy.

The past 10 days have been the bloodiest this year in Indian-administered Kashmir, as 10 militants and six Indian soldiers have now been killed in four separate incidents.

Five Indian paratroopers and as many Kashmiri militants were killed in a shoot-out in Kupwara district on Sunday.

An Indian army spokesman said the militants were trying to cross the Line of Control (LoC), a de facto border which divides Indian- and Pakistani-administered Kashmir.

Pakistan’s military rejected the Indian claim, terming it New Delhi's attempt to divert international attention from the humanitarian crisis in the disputed region.

On April 4, four militants were gunned down inside a house in southern Kulgam district.

Two days earlier, militants shot dead a paramilitary trooper in Bijbehara area of Anantnag district, one of the four southern districts where a resurgent militancy has been active for the past eight years.

Disputed region

Jammu and Kashmir is held by India and Pakistan in parts, and claimed by both in full. A small sliver is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought four wars -- in 1948, 1965, 1971, and 1999 -- three of them over Kashmir.

Some Kashmiri groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or unification with neighboring Pakistan.

According to several human rights organizations, thousands of people have been killed in the conflict in the region since 1989.