Suspected rebels kill 3 policemen in Indian Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India – Suspected rebels fired at police officers at two places in the main city of the Indian portion of Kashmir on Monday, killing three of them, police said.

In the first shooting, at least two militants on motorbike fired at close range on two policemen in the downtown Zadibal area of Srinagar. Both of the policemen died on the spot, said police officer Nazir Ahmed.

Indian security forces were searching the area for the assailants, who fled after the attack.

Police said another policeman was killed after suspected militants fired at him in Srinagar’s Tengpora area in the second attack of the day.

In a telephone call to Current New Service, a local news agency, a man who gave his name as Burhan-ud-din and identified himself as the operations spokesman for Kashmir’s largest militant group, Hizbul Mujahideen, said both shootings were carried out by militants belonging to the group.

Anti-India sentiment runs deep among the mostly Muslim population of Kashmir, which is divided between India and Pakistan. Rebel groups in India’s portion of the Himalayan region have been fighting since 1989 for independence or a merger with Pakistan.

More than 68,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the armed uprising and subsequent Indian crackdown.