(Photo: CGTN)
Five people were killed in a gun battle between members of a Pakistani militant group and Indian security forces in the disputed Kashmir region on Sunday as India intensified a security crackdown, including detaining more than 160 separatists over the weekend.
Three members of Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM), the Pakistan-based group that claimed the suicide car bombing that killed 40 Indian paramilitary police on February 14, died in the shootout, as did a senior police officer and an Indian army soldier, according to the Indian military and police.
Among the three dead militants, two were said to be from India and the other a foreigner.
Three more soldiers were wounded in the battle in Turigam, a village in Kulgam district in southern Kashmir, defense and police officials said.
Indian authorities have killed at least eight JeM militants and detained around 50 militants, sympathizers and their relatives since the bomb attack, which also sparked the roundup of separatists which India says is needed to head off trouble ahead of a general election to be held by May.
Most of those rounded up over the last two days were linked to the Islamist party Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI).
"Since JeI has a wider network across Kashmir and they are mobilizing anti-India protests, their arrest could help in curbing such protests ahead of elections," the senior police officer said.
One well-known separatist leader, Abdul Gani Bhat, was placed under house arrest, according to his political party.
Separatists called a strike to protest against the detentions. Many shops, petrol stations, and businesses closed, with few people and vehicles on streets in sensitive areas, except for troop patrols.
In some areas of the main city of Srinagar, the government limited the movement of people and vehicles. "The restrictions have been imposed as a precautionary measure to avoid any untoward incident," the police said.