4 Indian soldiers killed and 3 wounded in an ambush by rebels in disputed Kashmir

NEW DELHI (AP) — Four Indian soldiers were killed and three others were wounded in an ambush by militants fighting against New Delhi’s rule in disputed Kashmir, officials said on Thursday.

The Indian military said militants fired at two army vehicles in southern Poonch district late afternoon on Thursday. The area is close to the highly militarized line of control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan.

Lt. Col. Suneel Bartwal, an Indian army spokesman, said soldiers retaliated to the fire and in the ensuing fight, four soldiers were killed and three others were injured. He said a search operation continued in the area.

No other details were available and there was no independent confirmation of the ambush.

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Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan each administer part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety.

Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and most Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.

But since 2019, the territory has simmered in anger when New Delhi ended the region’s semi-autonomy and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms while intensifying counterinsurgency operations.

Last month, government forces killed seven militants in two separate counterinsurgency operations while rebels killed four Indian soldiers, including two army officers, in the region.