NEW DELHI (AP) – India’s home minister said on Tuesday that there are suspected three extremists He was killed in a gunshot In the contested Kashmir, the day before, the area was blamed for a gun massacre that led to a military conflict between India and Pakistan earlier this year.
Amit Shah said three men were Pakistani nationals and were killed on Monday in a joint military, paramilitary and police operation in the outskirts of Kashmir’s major city of Srinagar. Shah made a speech in the Indian House of Representatives. The Associated Press was unable to independently verify the details.
Shah said the rifle cartridges found at the battle site on Monday matched those used during the Srinagar attack. He also said the men’s bodies were identified by residents who provided food and shelter to them before they carried out. The April Massacre. It was not clear whether the locals were considered as co-incidents.
There was no immediate response from Islamabad.
However, after Monday’s shootout, state-run Pakistani radio allegedly planned a “fake encounter” for Pakistani citizens held in Indian prisons. It did not provide any further details.
Pakistan has long accused India of staging gambattles in Kashmir, sometimes pulling Pakistani prisoners away from Indian prisons and killing them in fake shootouts while overtaking them as combatants. New Delhi regularly rejects these allegations, accusing Pakistan of sending armed extremists to India and coordinating the attack.
The April gun massacre killed 26 people, mostly Hindu tourists. New Delhi has condemned the attack on Pakistan. Pakistan denied responsibility while seeking a neutral investigation. It led to a fierce military strike by India and Pakistan that brought nuclear-armed rivals to the brink of a third match over the region. Dozens of people were killed on both sides before reaching a ceasefire on May 10th after US mediation.
Four Days of Fight Among nuclear-armed rivals was their worst in decades.
Before the April gun massacre in the Kashmir resort town of Pahargam, the fighting largely declined in the Kashmir Valley, the centre of anti-Indian rebellion, and moved primarily to the mountainous regions of Jammu in recent years.
India and Pakistan each control part of Kashmir, but both claim the entire Himalayan territory. Extremists in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s domination since 1989.
India describes Kashmir’s extremists as terrorism backed by Pakistan. Pakistan denies it.
Many Muslim Kashmiris supports the rebels’ goal of territorial integration, both under Pakistan’s control and independent states. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces were killed in the conflict.
___
Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed, Pakistan, Islamabad. I contributed to this report.
