Indian troops kill two militants in IHK
29 December, 2012
SRINAGAR: Indian troops on Friday shot dead two suspected militants in Indian-held Kashmir (IHK) while seven civilians received police bullet injuries when they protested the slaying of the rebels, officials said. The two militants belonging to the Lashkar-e-Tayyaba rebel group were killed while three troopers were wounded in a firefight with militants in Pulwama town, 30 kilometres from Srinagar. Vijay Kumar, deputy inspector general of police in Pulwama, also said seven civilians who attacked a military ambulance to protest the killing of the militants were wounded when police fired on them. A curfew has been imposed on Pulwama, he added. The officer said the two militants were behind a grenade attack on a taxi in July that led to the death of four women tourists in IHK. One of them was also involved in a grenade attack last month at a liquor store in Jammu, which left one man dead and five others injured, Kumar said. Separatist violence in the region has dropped sharply since India and Pakistan started a peace process in 2004 but occasional gunfights erupt between militants and the security forces. India accuses Pakistan of backing militants on its side of the divided region, a charge Islamabad denies. End.
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