10 dead in Kashmir clashes

Ten people have died in clashes between Indian forces and separatists in Indian administered Kashmir.

More than a dozen groups are fighting Indian forces in Kashmir

Six fighters and a soldier died in two incidents in the Kashmir valley, the army said on Monday, while police said they had killed three fighters, including a senior leader, in two other encounters in the Jammu region.

Five fighters were killed on Sunday in a clash with troops on the Line of Control, the de facto frontier between Indian and Pakistani Kashmir, in the Gulmarg area.

Another fighter and the soldier were killed in an army search operation.

Police also raided a hide-out in the mountainous Sharekhi district on Sunday, killing a man identified as Tariq Usman Sheikh, the district commander of the Hizbul Mujahedeen group.

In another incident, police surrounded a group of fighters in the Tramda Nari area.

More than a dozen groups have been fighting since 1989 for Muslim-majority Kashmir‘s independence from India or its merger with Pakistan.

Source: News Agencies