ten dead in renewed violence – RT in French

Indian Kashmir was rocked by a wave of clashes that left ten dead, six civilians and four separatist rebels. In 2022, nearly 200 people are believed to have been killed in this disputed border area between Pakistan and India.

Six civilians and four suspected rebels were killed in six days in the relatively peaceful southern Hindu sector of Indian-administered Kashmir in a sudden upsurge of violence, authorities said on January 2.

On the night of January 1-2, two armed men, suspected of being rebels opposed to the Indian government, fired automatic rifles at three houses in the isolated village of Dangri.

The attack left four residents dead, police officer Mukesh Singh told reporters. Five other people were injured in the shooting.

Police and security forces chased the attackers in the area near the Line of Control dividing Kashmir between India and Pakistan. About half a million Indian troops are deployed in Kashmir. Its southern part, Jammu, which is predominantly Hindu, is relatively peaceful.

On the morning of January 2, two people, including a seven-year-old child, succumbed to injuries caused by an explosion near one of the houses, another police officer told AFP, under cover of anonymity, not being authorized to speak to the media.

An unexploded device, found nearby, was neutralized by a team of specialists, the police officer said.

A region under high tension

These violent incidents follow an armed clash that took place between government forces and suspected rebels traveling in a truck at a checkpoint in Jammu. Police say four suspected rebels were killed in the ensuing exchange of fire. The truck driver managed to escape.

Officials say at least 172 suspected rebels and 26 members of the armed forces were killed in fighting last year. Kashmir, a Himalayan region claimed by India and Pakistan, has been the scene of several wars for its control since the partition of the British Indian Empire in 1947.

For more than three decades, separatist groups, demanding the independence of Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan, have been fighting Indian soldiers. Tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers and rebels died in these fights.

India accuses its great Pakistani rival of supporting separatist rebels. Tensions have risen in Indian-controlled Kashmir since New Delhi imposed its direct authority over the territory in August 2019.