SRINAGAR, Oct 7 (AFP): Two Indian soldiers and six militants were killed in a clash along the border dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan as India's new army chief wrapped up a visit, the army said Sunday.
The army chief's two-day visit to Indian-held Kashmir over the weekend came as the insurgency-hit region witnessed an increase in violence.
"Indian troops shot dead six militants who had infiltrated into our side from across the Line of Control (LoC)," army spokesman Anil Mathur told AFP.
Mathur confirmed that two Indian soldiers also died in the fighting Saturday evening, which he said followed a "major infiltration bid."
The clash was the second along the heavily guarded border since army chief General Deepak Kapoor arrived in the state Friday, with three militants and a soldier dying in earlier fighting.
In separate clashes Saturday, two rebels and a soldier died in other parts of Kashmir, army spokesman Mathur said.
Kapoor told reporters in Kashmir that the week's surge in violence showed it was not yet time for the Indian army to scale back its presence in the state, a key demand by some pro-India Kashmiri groups and moderate separatists.
Berwa was the site of some of the fiercest fighting in Kashmir in months, with two army majors dying Wednesday in a gunbattle that also killed nine rebels.
Eight die in fighting along Kashmir border
FE Team | Published: October 07, 2007 00:00:00 | Updated: February 01, 2018 00:00:00
Share if you like