Indian military says 2 infiltrators killed on Kashmir LoC

The Indian military said on Friday it has killed two infiltrators in a fierce gunfight near the Line of Control (LoC) in Kashmir.

"On Thursday evening, following some suspicious movement near the LoC in Gurez, our alert troopers carried out an operation to track it and during the overnight searches that went on until today morning, a gunfight broke out," Col N N Joshi, an Indian military spokesman based in the Kashmir region, told Xinhua.

"During the stand off, two infiltrators were gunned down. The search operation in the area is under way."

According to Joshi, the militants were trying to make an attempt to infiltrate deep into Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The Indian military has not suffered any damage in the gunfight, he said, adding that the military recovered two assault rifles belonging to these infiltrators from the site.

However, no independent confirmation could be available about the gunfight, owing to the remoteness of area.

The LoC is a de facto border that divides Kashmir into India and Pakistan controlled parts.

A guerrilla war is going on between militants and Indian troops stationed in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989. Gunfight between the two sides takes place intermittently across the region.

New Delhi blames Islamabad for infiltrating militants into Indian-controlled Kashmir. However, Islamabad denies the charge saying it only provides moral and political support to Kashmiris. Endi