Three cops killed killed in IOK; three youngsters martyred

Three cops were killed while an equal number of freedom fighters embraced martyrdom in Indian Occupied Kashmir (IOK) in separate incidents on Friday.

According to details, two police officers were killed in an attack on Friday in the disputed region’s main city, Srinagar, officials said. Elsewhere in the Himalayan region, three youngsters and a policeman were killed in two gunbattles.

The violence came a day after diplomats from more than 20 countries stationed in India’s capital concluded a two-day visit to the region.

Police said that freedom fighters sprayed bullets at two policemen near a police station in Srinagar city. Both died later at a hospital.

Police and soldiers searched the area and later detained a young man for questioning.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the attack.

In a separate incident, a gunfight erupted shortly after scores of counterinsurgency police and soldiers launched an operation late Thursday in a village in southern Shopian district following a tip that three freedom fighters were there, Inspector-General Vijay Kumar said.

All three were killed in an exchange of gunfire early Friday, Kumar said. He said that police recovered two rifles and a pistol.

Residents said that government forces used explosives to blast a civilian house during the fighting, a common tactic by Indian troops in Kashmir.

In another gunbattle, freedom fighters killed a policeman and injured another in western Beerwah area early Friday, Kumar said.

Both India and Pakistan claim the divided territory of Kashmir in its entirety. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the goal that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country. Tens of thousands of civilians have been killed in the conflict.