SRINAGAR: Four police personnel and two Kashmiri fighters were killed in India-occupied Kashmir during a drawn-out firefight that also left several police wounded, the Indian army claimed on Saturday.

The clashes began in the rugged and forested area of Kathua, in the south of the occupied territory when a police foot patrol was ambushed, leaving four police personnel dead.

A police spokesman alleged the two slain Kashmiri fighters, who “escaped a cordon by security forces” four days earlier, were “from Pakistan”, without giving any evidence to back up his claim.

“We will not sleep till we stop such activities of our neighbour,” the spokesman said, referring to Pakistan.

India has half a million soldiers permanently deployed in occupied Kashmir since 1989.

Published in Dawn, March 30th, 2025