Three suspected militants were killed Wednesday in Indian-administered Kashmir during a daylong gunfight with forces, police said, the latest in a string of attacks in the disputed territory.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been split between India and Pakistan since 1947, when both countries gained independence from British rule.
Indian police said the exchange of fire in the remote Doda area occurred after security officers conducted a search operation based on intelligence regarding the presence of militants.
Three “terrorists” were killed in the ensuing gunfire, according to a police post on social networking platform X.
“Arms and ammunition have been recovered from their possession,” the post’s announcement read.
The latest battle in the forested area, around 200 kilometres (124 miles) south of Srinagar, occurred only days before a major Hindu pilgrimage is scheduled to begin.
Last week, two suspected militants were slain in a residential area of the northern Kashmir Valley.
Both India and Pakistan claim full control of Kashmir and have fought three wars over it.
Since 1989, rebel factions have maintained an insurgency, demanding the territory’s independence or union with Pakistan.
The violence has killed tens of thousands of civilians, troops, and rebels.
Nine Indian Hindu pilgrims were killed and dozens injured this month when a gunman opened fire on a bus transporting them from a shrine in the southern Reasi region.
It was one of the bloodiest attacks in recent years, and the first against Hindu pilgrims in Kashmir since 2017, when militants killed seven people in another bus ambush.