Two suspected rebels were killed and a civilian was critically wounded in a shootout with government forces in Indian Kashmir yesterday, police said, as tensions in the disputed territory ran high.
A police officer was also critically wounded in a separate incident in the Indian-administered part of the disputed Himalayan region, which has seen a spike in violence in recent months.
The two militants died in a firefight with soldiers and special police counterinsurgency forces who had cordoned off a neighborhood in the south of the region early yesterday.
Photo: AP
Hundreds of villagers poured out onto the streets to try to help the trapped rebels escape, many throwing stones and shouting slogans against Indian rule.
One was injured when government forces fired into the crowd.
“Two militants were killed in the encounter. According to our input one more is still fighting,” Kashmir Police Director-General P. Vaid told reporters.
Another police officer speaking on condition of anonymity said all three fighters were locals.
In a separate incident further south in the town of Anantnag militants fired at a police party in the local bus stand and critically wounded an officer, Vaid said.
“We are evacuating him from the area,” Kashmir Police Inspector-General Muneer Ahmed Khan told reporters.
Kashmir has seen a spike in violence since the start of Ramadan in late May, with 56 people killed in almost daily clashes.
Kashmir has been divided between rivals India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947, but both claim it in full.
Rebel groups have for decades fought about 500,000 Indian soldiers deployed in the territory, demanding independence or a merger of the region with Pakistan.
The conflict has left tens of thousands dead since 1989, mostly civilians
Tensions are expected to escalate further ahead of the first anniversary on Saturday of the popular rebel leader Burhan Wani who was killed by security forces.
The killing provoked a huge outpouring of public anger in Indian-administered Kashmir that has drawn a growing number of civilians into the conflict, with entire communities coming out to help the rebels and attack government forces.
Republican US lawmakers on Friday criticized US President Joe Biden’s administration after sanctioned Chinese telecoms equipment giant Huawei unveiled a laptop this week powered by an Intel artificial intelligence (AI) chip. The US placed Huawei on a trade restriction list in 2019 for contravening Iran sanctions, part of a broader effort to hobble Beijing’s technological advances. Placement on the list means the company’s suppliers have to seek a special, difficult-to-obtain license before shipping to it. One such license, issued by then-US president Donald Trump’s administration, has allowed Intel to ship central processors to Huawei for use in laptops since 2020. China hardliners
A top Vietnamese property tycoon was on Thursday sentenced to death in one of the biggest corruption cases in history, with an estimated US$27 billion in damages. A panel of three hand-picked jurors and two judges rejected all defense arguments by Truong My Lan, chair of major developer Van Thinh Phat, who was found guilty of swindling cash from Saigon Commercial Bank (SCB) over a decade. “The defendant’s actions ... eroded people’s trust in the leadership of the [Communist] Party and state,” read the verdict at the trial in Ho Chi Minh City. After the five-week trial, 85 others were also sentenced on
Conjoined twins Lori and George Schappell, who pursued separate careers, interests and relationships during lives that defied medical expectations, died this month in Pennsylvania, funeral home officials said. They were 62. The twins, listed by Guinness World Records as the oldest living conjoined twins, died on April 7 at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, obituaries posted by Leibensperger Funeral Homes of Hamburg said. The cause of death was not detailed. “When we were born, the doctors didn’t think we’d make 30, but we proved them wrong,” Lori said in an interview when they turned 50, the Philadelphia Inquirer reported. The
RAMPAGE: A Palestinian man was left dead after dozens of Israeli settlers searching for a missing 14-year-old boy stormed a village in the Israeli-occupied West Bank US President Joe Biden on Friday said he expected Iran to attack Israel “sooner, rather than later” and warned Tehran not to proceed. Asked by reporters about his message to Iran, Biden simply said: “Don’t,” underscoring Washington’s commitment to defend Israel. “We are devoted to the defense of Israel. We will support Israel. We will help defend Israel and Iran will not succeed,” he said. Biden said he would not divulge secure information, but said his expectation was that an attack could come “sooner, rather than later.” Israel braced on Friday for an attack by Iran or its proxies as warnings grew of