Indian troops kill five militants in Kashmir, police say

INDIAN troops on Sunday (30) killed five militants, including a top commander from the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) group, in stepped-up anti-militancy operations in Kashmir, police said.

The militants were killed in two separate overnight operations by Indian troops south of Srinagar, said Kashmir Police chief Vijay Kumar.

"We had launched two separate operations on the basis of inputs about the presence of militants in these areas last night. Five militants, including JeM commander, Zahid Wani, and a Pakistani national, Kafeel, were killed in these two operations," Kumar said.

A police officer was shot to death by militants outside his residence Saturday evening in the south of Srinagar, Kumar said.

In January, 21 militants, including 8 Pakistan nationals, have been killed across Indian Kashmir, according to police.

Last year, the disputed region witnessed a wave of civilian killings, with militants seemingly targeting non-Kashmiris, including migrant workers, and members of the minority Hindu and Sikh communities in the Muslim-majority Kashmir valley.

Indian forces in the heavily militarised region responded with a widespread crackdown.

More than 189 militants were killed in Kashmir last year, a police official said.

Kashmir Press Club shut

In a recent development, the Indian government has shut down the Kashmir Press Club (KPC), prompting an outcry from journalists, politicians and others who called the move further evidence of efforts to silence critical reporting in the disputed territory.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since 1947. The Indian-administered part has seen decades of unrest that has killed tens of thousands of people, most of them civilians.

Journalists there have come under heightened pressure in recent years, subject increasingly to arrests, raids, prosecution on "terrorism" related charges, and harassment for their reporting.

The KPC was the only elected journalists' body in Kashmir liaising with the government on difficulties faced by reporters, and had issued statements critical of police actions hindering the media.

Authorities said that the association, created in 2019 after a lengthy struggle by local journalists, had "ceased to exist" as a registered body, accusing members of "illegalities on several counts".

(Agencies)