At least nine people, including three armed rebels, four Indian army soldiers and a police constable, have been killed in a gun battle in India-administered Kashmir.
The gun battle on Monday in Pinglan village of Pulwama district comes days after 42 Indian security personnel were killed in a suicide blast – the worst such attack in 30 years of Kashmir conflict, which has raised fears of confrontation with archenemy Pakistan.
A senior Indian army official told Al Jazeera that the operation against the rebels was launched early on Monday following intelligence inputs about their presence in a house in Pinglan village. It ended in the evening.
A police official told Al Jazeera that a deputy inspector general of police, Amit Kumar, was hit by a bullet in his leg.
“An army brigadier was also wounded in the fighting,” the official added.
Local residents in Pinglan village said that three houses and a cowshed were blown up by the armed forces and one of the house owners, Mushtaq Ahmad, 30, who ran a poultry shop in the village, was also killed.
