An operation against militants in India-occupied Kashmir killed five Indian soldiers and injured one on Friday.
Since last month, the Indian army has been conducting search operations in the Rajouri district to pursue “rebels” it blames for an attack on an army truck that resulted in the deaths of five soldiers.
The army said in a statement that a search team “established contact with a group of terrorists well entrenched in a cave” in an area that was “densely vegetated with rocky and cliffs.”
According to the report, the suspected rebels then detonated an explosive device that murdered two soldiers and injured four others.
The statement said two soldiers died in the attack and three more died later that day.
The Indian Express reported that following the incident, mobile internet services were suspended in Rajouri.
On April 12, two disguised men opened fire on four sleeping Indian soldiers at a military station in Bathinda, Punjab, a northern state where tensions have been high due to the revival of a separatist movement.
Four days later, the Indian police claimed to have apprehended a soldier implicated in the murder of four individuals.
Last August, militants stormed an Indian army base in Rajouri, killing three soldiers and two assailants.
New Delhi has long accused Pakistan of fomenting an ‘insurgency’ in occupied Kashmir spanning decades. Islamabad refutes this accusation, stating that it only offers Kashmiris seeking independence diplomatic and moral support.
