A long gunbattle between India's special forces and suspected rebels in the forests of Indian Kashmir left two soldiers and two rebels dead, an army spokesman said Tuesday.
The soldiers were killed Monday in Maidanpora, a forested area 75 miles (120 kilometers) northwest of the region's main city, Srinagar, a day after Indian troops and police officers launched a raid on militants in the area, said Lt. Col. J.S. Brar, an army spokesman.
Two rebels were killed Tuesday, he said.
Both India and Pakistan claim the Himalayan region of Kashmir in its entirety and have fought two of their three wars over it. More than a dozen guerrilla groups are fighting for Kashmir's independence from India or its unification with Pakistan. More than 68,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed since violence began in 1989.
The ongoing battle occurred near an area that saw a fierce five-day gunfight last month that left 17 suspected rebels and eight Indian army soldiers dead.
Indian authorities declined to say which militant group they were fighting Tuesday, and no group has claimed responsibility.
Kuldeep Khoda, Indian Kashmir's top police official, recently said the Taliban was working in close coordination with rebels in Indian Kashmir. He warned that the Taliban was "moving closer to India's borders and may launch attacks" during national elections later this month.
But anti-India separatists dismissed the claim as "sheer propaganda."
"Indian agencies are raising the false specter of Taliban to defame our freedom movement and to create an excuse for continuing genocide in Kashmir," said Syed Ali Shah Geelani, a key leader of nonviolent separatist groups.
India accuses Pakistan of funding and training the militants in the Pakistani-controlled portion of Kashmir and then facilitating their infiltration into Indian-held Kashmir. Islamabad denies the charge, saying it only gives moral and diplomatic support to the rebels.
