By IINA,
Sri Nagar : Eight people have been killed in violence involving armed militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said. Among the dead were four civilians, including a photojournalist and an Indian soldier. Two militants were also killed. Police say the firefight happened in Samba district when the militants were confronted by security forces. There has been a big reduction in fighting in recent years, with an India-Pakistan peace process under way. Correspondents say yesterday’s attack is the first on such a scale for nearly four years in the region. The violence over the weekend followed an attack by militants on a locality in Samba town, south of Jammu, and close to the Line of Control (LoC) that divides the Indian-administered and Pakistani-administered parts of Kashmir.
Senior police official Farooq Khan said the two militants were sighted by a local resident early yesterday. The militants opened fire on being questioned about their motives by the resident, killing him and his wife on the spot. On hearing the incident, security forces cordoned off the area and fought a pitched battle with the militants, who took shelter in a house and continued firing. A senior photojournalist working with a local English-language newspaper, Ashok Sodhi, was killed when a bullet fired by one the militants hit him while he was taking pictures, the police said. A soldier was killed and two were injured in the fighting, which continued through the day. Earlier, on Friday, Indian paramilitary forces claimed that they had foiled an attempt by suspected militants from neighboring Pakistan to enter the region. Indian security agencies believe that some militants may have succeeded in crossing over and were behind Sunday’s attack.