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SRINAGAR, India – Five suspected militants and one soldier were killed in two days of fighting near the highly militarized, de facto border that divides the disputed Kashmir region between India and Pakistan, the Indian military said on Monday.
Indian Army spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia said the shootout erupted on Sunday after a militant group crossed the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir to the northern part of India. West of Tangdhar. He said two rebels had been killed on Sunday and three others and that an Indian soldier had died Monday.
Kalia said soldiers had recovered five bodies of militants with weapons and continued to search the area.
There was no independent confirmation of the incident.
On Friday, India canceled a scheduled meeting between its Foreign Minister and his Pakistani counterpart on the sidelines of the United States General Assembly session in New York this month, exacerbating tensions and provoking a war of words between long-time rivals. India said its decision to withdraw from the meeting, announced a day earlier, followed the assassination of an Indian border guard and three policemen in Kashmir and the glorification of insurgents fighting against domination Indian in the region.
India and Pakistan, endowed with nuclear weapons, claim Kashmir in its entirety and have waged two wars on Himalayan territory since they gained their independence from British colonialism.
In Indian-controlled Kashmir, rebel groups have been fighting for independence or for a merger with Pakistan since 1989.
Most Kashmiris support the rebel cause while participating in civilian street protests against Indian control. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the rebels, which Pakistan denies.
Nearly 70,000 people were killed in the uprising and subsequent Indian military repression.
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