Five rebels killed in Indian Kashmir in clashes with security forces

New Delhi, October 26 (EFE).- At least five alleged insurgents from the Islamist group Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) died on Thursday in Indian Kashmir in a confrontation with security forces, police in the disputed region said.

“Three more Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists killed, total 5” in an encounter that began this morning in Kupwara district, police in the Jammu and Kashmir region said on social network Twitter.

Authorities said the clash in the town of Machhal began due to “specific information” provided by the Kupwara police about an attempt to cross into Indian-controlled territory from neighboring Pakistan across the so-called Line of Control. (LoC), the heavily militarized de facto border dividing the region disputed by both countries.

This is the second such incident reported in the region in less than a week after two insurgents died in an encounter last Sunday in the Uri sector, according to the Indian Army.

Pakistan and India have disputed Kashmir’s sovereignty since the partition of the subcontinent in 1947, following British decolonization, and have fought several wars and other minor confrontations over it.

Since 1989, the region has been mired in an armed insurgency against the government in New Delhi, a conflict in which tens of thousands of people have died, while India accuses Pakistan of complicity in the insurgency, which Islamabad denies. EFE

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