Two Indian soldiers killed in gunfight in occupied Kashmir

Photo: File

SRINAGAR: Two Indian soldiers were killed on Wednesday in a gunfight with suspected militants along the border that divides the disputed territory of Kashmir between India and Pakistan, Indian officials said.

The two were allegedly killed during an operation to intercept 'infiltrators', the Press Trust of India news agency reported officials as saying.

An armed rebellion against Indian rule has raged for decades in Kashmir, and has left tens of thousands dead, mainly civilians.

Also read: Two Pakistan Army soldiers martyred as India resorts to unprovoked firing at LoC: ISPR

New Delhi accuses Pakistan of arming and training anti-India rebels and sending them across the border to launch attacks on Indian forces. Islamabad strongly denies the charge, pointing to India's own policies that have served to alienate and disenfranchise the people living in occupied Kashmir. 

In recent days, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi have both warned that India may carry out a false flag operation to deflect attention from its own atrocities in occupied Kashmir and the widespread protests breaking out over anti-Muslim laws enacted by New Delhi.

Prime Minister Imran, while speaking to North American physicians of Pakistani descent on Saturday, had urged Pakistanis based in the United States to lobby for the country amid concerns that India may carry out a false flag operation in Azad Kashmir.

Separately, Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi had on Monday warned the world over the Narendra Modi government’s intentions of staging a false flag operation to divert the world attention from the grave human rights violations in India and occupied Kashmir.