Two suspected rebels, two militia members killed in IIOJK

HELD SRINAGAR: Soldiers in Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu & Kashmir (IIOJK) killed two suspected rebels during a firefight, police said on Friday, hours after gunmen in a separate incident shot dead two members of a government-backed militia.

The gun battle started on Thursday night in Sopore, in IIOJK’s north, when soldiers and police were searching for militants.

“Two terrorists have been neutralised in Sopore encounter,” police said in a statement on Friday posted on X after the night-long counterinsurgency operation.

Hours before the clash, gunmen shot dead two village defence guards in the remote southern Kishtwar after they were likely abducted.

The village defence guards are a militia force tasked with fighting off rebel attacks in the Hindu-dominated areas of the restive territory.

Kashmir Tigers, a rebel group active in the territory in recent years, claimed in an Urdu language statement circulated by local media that the duo was killed after they were warned not to pursue militants. The rebel group also released photos of the two bloodied bodies.