Indian troops kill five Kashmiris in Shopian

HELD SRINAGAR/ISLAMABAD: Indian forces killed five suspected fighters in occupied Kashmir, a day after five soldiers were shot dead in the disputed territory.

It comes as the restive territory is hit by a string of civilian shootings, with seven killed last week in attacks claimed by anti-India militant group The Resistance Front (TRF).

Police said the five men were killed in two separate incidents in the southern Shopian area of the Muslim-majority region. Three of those killed were members of the TRF, police alleged, claiming one of them was responsible for the death of a street hawker last week.

Kashmir’s top army officer, Lieutenant General Devendra Pratap Pandey, said the military operations were not connected to the civilian killings. “I would not like to connect these operations with any of the events that took place in Srinagar or elsewhere,” Pandey told reporters.

It comes after five Indian soldiers were killed on Monday in a mountain pass near the Line of Control. Two suspected militants also died in separate incidents on Monday, with one of them blamed by police for killing a taxi driver last week—allegations disputed by his family.

Separately, India’s infamous National Investigation Agency (NIA) launched raids in seven different locations in IIOJK. The NIA along with the personnel of Indian army, paramilitary and police raided several houses in Srinagar, Shopian, Pulwama and Baramulla and terrorised the inmates, the Kashmir Media Service (KMS) reported.

As per locals these raids are part of the Modi regime’s plan to harass and terrorise people to silence their voice for right to self-determination. Significantly, this is the second major search operation launched in two days. On October 10, nearly 15 areas were raided.

Meanwhile, a protest demonstration was held outside Muzaffarabad Press Club against the revocation of occupied Jammu and Kashmir’s special status by Modi-led Indian fascist regime on August 5, 2019, continued military siege, curfew and lockdown in the territory.

The protest was organised by Pasban-e-Hurriyat Jammu and Kashmir on completion of 800 days of imposition of military siege and communication blackout by the fascist Modi regime in the occupied territory, the KMS reported.

Carrying banners the protesters were demanding from the United Nations to hold India accountable for the grave human rights violations by Indian troops in Kashmir.