Daily Times

SRINAGAR: At least eight Indian paramilitary soldiers and two suspected fighters were killed Saturday near Srinagar in India-held Kashmir when a group of armed men ambushed the soldiers’ convoy, police said.

Four gunmen sprayed bullets on the convoy carrying members of India’s Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) near Pampore town, killing five soldiers instantly and wounding 20, inspector general of police for the region, Javaid Gillani, told AFP. A top regional police official said three others succumbed to their injuries later. “The toll of CRPF personnel killed in the attack is now eight, after three more died of their injuries,” Rajendra Kumar, director general of police in the region said.

Another officer identified the attackers as Pakistani nationals, adding that the injured soldiers were taken to a nearby military hospital.

“We have killed two Pakistani (militants), that is what we are happy about at this time. Two others escaped the spot,” said Nalin Prabhat, the inspector general for CRPF in the region.

Overall violence in Held Kashmir has sharply declined during the last decade, but in recent months the region has witnessed a spurt in armed encounters between government forces and fighters who have been fighting for decades for independence or a merger of the disputed territory with Pakistan. The fighting has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead over the past three decades.