Indian army kills seven militants in Kashmir

Indian forces are reported to have killed seven suspected Islamic guerrillas in a gunbattle in the disputed region of Kashmir…

Indian forces are reported to have killed seven suspected Islamic guerrillas in a gunbattle in the disputed region of Kashmir today.

The militants were killed near Surankote in the border Poonch district, a defence official said.

"The operation is still in progress, the identity of the slain militants is yet to be ascertained," he said.

The standoff between India and Pakistan, both nuclear-armed only eased last month after Islamabad promised to stop militants from crossing into Indian Kashmir to join the revolt there.

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New Delhi has said it will end its massive troop deployment only after it is convinced Islamabad has halted the flow of militants into Kashmir and dismantled training camps it says exist in Pakistani Kashmir.

Islamabad denies direct involvement in the revolt in Kashmir, but says it is committed to diplomatic and moral support to the Kashmiri people in their struggle for self-determination.

More than 33,000 people have died in the Himalayan territory since the revolt broke out against Indian rule in late 1989. The separatists put the death toll at closer 80,000.