SRINAGAR, India: Indian security forces killed three suspected armed rebels in Indian-administered Kashmir on Monday during a clash in a wildlife reserve, the army said.
The incident occurred in the mountains of Dachigam, around 30 kilometers (18 miles) from the disputed region’s main city of Srinagar.
“Three terrorists have been neutralized in an intense firefight,” the Indian army said in a statement on social media.
“Operation continues,” it added.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and the neighbors — which both claim the region in full — have fought two wars over its control.
The incident took place near the major Hindu shrine of Amarnath, to which more than 350,000 people from across India have traveled as part of an ongoing pilgrimage.
The army did not immediately identify those killed, but a police officer told AFP on condition of anonymity that they were all “foreigners.”
Rebel groups have waged an insurgency against Indian rule since 1989, demanding Kashmir’s independence or its merger with Pakistan.
The clash comes more than three months after gunmen attacked tourists in Pahalgam, a popular resort town in the restive territory, killing 26 people, mostly Hindus.
Security forces have been hunting for the attackers but they remain at large.
India accused Pakistan of backing the attackers, a charge Islamabad denied, sparking an intense four-day conflict between the nuclear-armed rivals in May that killed more than 70 people on both sides.
Clashes between rebels and government forces have drastically reduced during the last five years but many local militants have been killed since the Pahalgam attack.
