SRINAGAR, India: Three suspected militants were killed Wednesday in Indian-administered Kashmir during a daylong firefight with soldiers, police said, the latest incident in an uptick of attacks in the disputed territory.

Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947.

Indian police said the exchange of fire in the remote Doda area came after security forces launched a search operation based on intelligence about the presence of militants.

Three “terrorists” were killed during the ensuing firefight, police said in a post on social media platform X.

“Arms and ammunition have been recovered from their possession,” the post said.

The latest clash in the forested area, some 200 kilometers (124 miles) south of the main city of Srinagar, came days before a major Hindu pilgrimage is set to begin.

Two suspected militants were killed in a residential area of northern Kashmir valley last week.
India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir in full and have fought three wars for control of the Himalayan region.

Rebel groups have waged an insurgency since 1989, demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.

The conflict has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels.

Nine Indian Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens wounded this month when a gunman opened fire on a bus carrying them from a shrine in the southern Reasi area.

It was one of the deadliest attacks in years and the first on Hindu pilgrims in Kashmir since 2017, when gunmen killed seven people in another ambush on a bus.