5 suspected militants killed in Kashmir operation

Five suspected militants were Kashmir and two Indian soldiers injured during a military operation in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday.

A police official told Anadolu on the condition of anonymity that it is being ascertained whether the deceased are local or foreign militants.

He said they were killed after being cornered by government forces comprising soldiers, paramilitary soldiers and police in Kulgam district, which is one of the southern districts where a resurgent popular militancy held sway until 2019, when the Hindu nationalist government scrapped the region's autonomy and launched a comprehensive crackdown on multiple fronts to curb the decades-old secessionist movement.

Barring an uptick in the number of attacks in the relatively calmer Jammu province, in which 44 people including 18 soldiers were killed until mid November, the overall number of such attacks has been decreasing compared with the first two decades of the anti-India insurgency that broke out in 1989.

India and Pakistan rule the Jammu and Kashmir region in parts, but claim it in full. The territories are recognized as Indian-administered Kashmir, and Pakistan-administered Kashmir or Azad Kashmir.

The lowest number of militancy-related deaths — which include civilians, government forces and militants — were recorded at 121 in 2012, according the numbers published by the South Asia Terrorism Portal. Peak fatalities were recorded in 2018 with 452 people killed. With today's killings, the death toll of (around 130) in 2024 will be slightly higher than that of 2012.

The operation comes on the day India's home minister, Amit Shah, is set to review the situation in the disputed region. This is the first such meeting after a weak local elected government took over in October after more than six years of direct rule by New Delhi.

The abrogation of the region's special political status in 2019 directly placed law and order under the Indian Home Ministry. The election of a government makes no change in such an arrangement.

Shah told Indian parliament on Tuesday that "not a single stone has been thrown in Kashmir" since its autonomy was abrogated.

Anti-India protests, which would morph into stone-throwing battles when curbed, were the hallmark of the civilian dissent against the Indian rule.