2 suspected rebels and 2 government militia members killed in Indian-controlled Kashmir

NEW DELHI — Two suspected militants were killed in a clash with government forces. Indian-controlled KashmirElsewhere in the disputed region, attackers killed two members of a government-backed militia, authorities said on Friday.

There has been an increase in violence in recent weeks in the region, which is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both.

The Indian army said late Thursday that a joint team of soldiers and police raided a village near the northwestern town of Sopore after receiving a tip-off about the presence of a group of militants.

The military said in a statement that the militants “opened indiscriminate fire” at the soldiers, leading to a gunfight in which two people died.

It was stated that soldiers continued their search efforts in the region. There was no independent confirmation of the incident.

Meanwhile, the attackers killed two members. The government-run militia is called the “Village Defense Group” late Thursday in the far southern Kishtwar district, officials said.

Police blamed the killings on rebels fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir.

The duo was kidnapped from the forest area where they went to graze cattle on Thursday. Their bodies were found late Thursday, police said.

The militias were first formed in the 1990s to defend against anti-India rebels in remote Himalayan villages that government forces could not quickly reach. The militias were largely disbanded as the insurgency diminished in their areas and some militia members gained a reputation for brutality and rights abuses.

But after the killing of seven Hindus last year two attacks In a remote mountainous village near the highly militarized Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan, authorities have revived militias and begun re-arming and training thousands of villagers, including some teenagers.

The Kashmir Tigers, who Indian officials say is an offshoot of the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant group, claimed responsibility for the killing of the duo in a statement on social media. The statement could not be independently verified.

Militants in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir have been fighting against New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the region under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the accusation and many Kashmiris see it as a legitimate fight for freedom. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces were killed in the conflict.