Two fighters, trooper killed in IIOJ&K clashes

SRINAGAR: Two suspected militants and a paramilitary trooper were killed and six security personnel wounded in clashes in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJ&K) on Wednesday.

Police said the first incident occurred late Tuesday night in Hiranagar. Security forces rushed to the border village, with a man killed in the initial gunfight. Another fighter who was hiding in the area and firing intermittently was also killed later, a police spokesperson told AFP, adding that a paramilitary soldier who was wounded during the clash died in hospital.

Police said that hours later, suspected militants threw grenades and fired at an army checkpoint in the remote Doda area around 100 kilometres to the north, wounding six soldiers and a police officer.

The wounded personnel were taken to hospital for treatment, police senior superintendent Javaid Iqbal told AFP. “A search operation is on in the forest area,” he said.

“Unless we talk to our neighbours we will not be able to solve the problem,” Farooq Abdullah, a former chief minister of the region, told a news agency. He is from The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference, one of several parties opposed to Modi.