Three suspected rebels and a soldier were killed in separate firefights near Indian-administered Kashmir’s unofficial frontier with Pakistan, the Indian army said on Saturday.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the territory in full.
The army said Indian soldiers killed three fighters in a clash that began on Wednesday in a remote forest in Kishtwar in the south of the disputed territory.
Senior Indian army official Brigadier JBS Rathi said troops had displayed “great tactical acumen.”
“In the gun battle, three terrorists were neutralized,” he told reporters on Saturday in a commonly used term for rebels opposed to Indian rule in Kashmir.
Weapons and “war-like stores” were recovered from the site, the army’s White Knight Corps posted on social media platform X.
A soldier was killed in a separate incident late on Friday night in Sunderbani district along the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border between India and Pakistan.
The White Knight Corps said on X troops had “foiled an infiltration attempt” there.
India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers permanently deployed in the territory. Rebel groups have fought for decades demanding independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan.
Four police officers and two suspected rebels were killed in the region last month in a clash that also wounded several police officers.
Fighting has decreased since 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi‘s government imposed direct control of the territory from New Delhi after cancelling its partial autonomy.
Thousands of additional troops, including special forces, were deployed across southern mountainous areas last year following a series of deadly rebel attacks that killed more than 50 soldiers over three years.
India regularly blames Pakistan for pushing rebels across the LoC to launch attacks on Indian forces.
Islamabad denies the allegation, saying it only supports Kashmir’s struggle for self-determination.
