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| Indian soldiers die in Kashmir gun battle as tensions escalate | Indian soldiers die in Kashmir gun battle as tensions escalate |
| (8 days later) | |
| Four Indian soldiers and two militants have been killed in clashes in disputed Kashmir as security personnel hunt for members of an insurgent group that killed at least 40 paramilitaries last week. | Four Indian soldiers and two militants have been killed in clashes in disputed Kashmir as security personnel hunt for members of an insurgent group that killed at least 40 paramilitaries last week. |
| Police said they were fired on by militants as they searched a village in Kashmir’s southern Pulwama district, close to where a car laden with explosives rammed a paramilitary convoy on Thursday. | Police said they were fired on by militants as they searched a village in Kashmir’s southern Pulwama district, close to where a car laden with explosives rammed a paramilitary convoy on Thursday. |
| “As the searches were going on, terrorists from inside the target house fired indiscriminately on the search party,” police said. “In the initial burst of fire, four army jawans and one civilian sustained critical gun shot injuries.” | “As the searches were going on, terrorists from inside the target house fired indiscriminately on the search party,” police said. “In the initial burst of fire, four army jawans and one civilian sustained critical gun shot injuries.” |
| Two militants were also killed in the 12-hour gunfight that followed. Police were still searching the village on Monday afternoon. | Two militants were also killed in the 12-hour gunfight that followed. Police were still searching the village on Monday afternoon. |
| India enacts reprisals against Pakistan after Kashmir bombing | India enacts reprisals against Pakistan after Kashmir bombing |
| Police said the identities and affiliations of the dead militants were still being ascertained, but Indian media have claimed they belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammed, the Islamist group involved in Thursday’s attack and may have had direct involvement. | Police said the identities and affiliations of the dead militants were still being ascertained, but Indian media have claimed they belonged to Jaish-e-Mohammed, the Islamist group involved in Thursday’s attack and may have had direct involvement. |
| Kashmir, a disputed region in the foothills of the Himalayas, has been at the centre of tensions between India and Pakistan since both states came into being in 1947. | |
| Both claim it in full, but each controls a section of the territory, separated by one of the most heavily militarised borders in the world: the “line of control” based on a ceasefire border established after a 1947-48 war over the region. China controls another part in the east. | |
| India and Pakistan have gone to war three times over Kashmir, most recently in 1999. Artillery, mortar and small arms fire is still frequently exchanged over the ceasefire line. | |
| The roots of the conflict date back to the weeks after the partition of colonial India 71 years ago. Small, semi-autonomous “princely states” across the subcontinent were being folded into either India or Pakistan. The ruler of Kashmir dithered over which to join – until tribal fighters poured in from Pakistan, intent on winning the region for Islamabad. | |
| Kashmir turned to Delhi for assistance, signing a treaty of accession with India in exchange for the intervention of Indian troops, who fought the Pakistanis to the modern-day line of control. | |
| In 1948, the UN security council issued Resolution 47 calling for a referendum among Kashmiris to determine which country the region would join, or whether it would become an independent state. That referendum has never been held. | |
| In its 1950 constitution, India granted Kashmir a large measure of independence. But, in the years since, it has eroded some of that autonomy and repeatedly intervened to rig elections and dismiss and jail democratically elected leaders. | |
| For the past three decades, Indian-controlled Kashmir has been roiled by an armed insurgency against its rule. Indian soldiers and Pakistan-backed guerillas fought a dirty war replete with accusations of torture, forced disappearances and extra-judicial killing. | |
| Until 2004, the militancy was made up largely of Pakistani and Afghan fighters. But since then, especially after massive popular protests were put down with extreme force in 2016, locals have made up a growing share of the anti-India fighters. | |
| For Indians, control of Kashmir — part of the country’s only Muslim-majority state — has been proof of its commitment to religious pluralism. For Pakistan, a state founded as a homeland for south Asian Muslims, Kashmir is the last occupied home of its co-religionists. Michael Safi | |
| Jaish-e-Mohammed is based in Pakistan, and India has announced several reprisals against its neighbour and promised to avenge the bombing, the deadliest in the history of Kashmir’s 30-year insurgency. | Jaish-e-Mohammed is based in Pakistan, and India has announced several reprisals against its neighbour and promised to avenge the bombing, the deadliest in the history of Kashmir’s 30-year insurgency. |
| Five more soldiers have died since Thursday’s attack, including in an improvised explosive device blast on Saturday near the ceasefire line between Indian- and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. Both countries claim the region in full but rule separate sections divided by a heavily militarised border. | Five more soldiers have died since Thursday’s attack, including in an improvised explosive device blast on Saturday near the ceasefire line between Indian- and Pakistani-controlled Kashmir. Both countries claim the region in full but rule separate sections divided by a heavily militarised border. |
| India | India |
| Pakistan | Pakistan |
| Kashmir | Kashmir |
| South and Central Asia | South and Central Asia |
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