This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.

Elderly Couple, Held Hostage In Their House, Freed As Security Forces Kill 7 Militants In Kashmir

The two gunbattles also left a police officer dead.
A Kashmiri Muslim man lies wounded on a hospital bed after government forces fired pellets on September 11, 2016 in Srinagar.
Getty Images
A Kashmiri Muslim man lies wounded on a hospital bed after government forces fired pellets on September 11, 2016 in Srinagar.

An elderly couple, held hostage in their house by militants, was rescued on Sunday as security forces killed seven militants in two gun battles that also left a police officer dead in Kashmir, as tensions in the region ratcheted higher and street protests against Indian rule grew.

Earlier in the day, the director general of police (DGP), Jammu and Kashmir, K Rajendra Kumar said, "They (militants) are in a house, where there is a civilian couple in a hostage situation. Forces are retrieving them. We have to evacuate the civilians first."

Three of the militants were killed after they tried to storm the government secretariat in Poonch, near the de-facto border with Pakistan, which lays claims to the Himalayan region.

Kashmiri women shout for freedom slogans during a funeral procession of a Javed Ahmad Dar at Wadwan Budgam some 20kms from Srinagar, on September 11, 2016.
Hindustan Times via Getty Images
Kashmiri women shout for freedom slogans during a funeral procession of a Javed Ahmad Dar at Wadwan Budgam some 20kms from Srinagar, on September 11, 2016.

"The couple, who were held hostage, have been safely evacuated. Three militants have been killed," Deputy Inspector General (DIG) Rajouri-Poonch range, Johny Willian told PTI.

The militants were holding Haji Nazir Mir and his wife Mumtaz Mir hostage.

Haji Nazir Mir is a cousin of the Congress MLC and deputy chairman of the Jammu and Kashmir legislative council Jahangir Hussain Mir.

Both Mir and his wife, who had locked themselves inside a room in the building, were rescued unhurt after the militants were killed around 7:15 pm, police said.

"One policeman was killed, while another police officer and civilian were injured as militants tried to storm the building. The police repulsed the attack and the militants took refuge in nearby buildings," a senior police official told Reuters, adding that the three militants were killed after a day-long gunbattle.

Indian security forces clear road blockades following clashes with Kashmiri protestors in Srinagar on August 29, 2016.
AFP/Getty Images
Indian security forces clear road blockades following clashes with Kashmiri protestors in Srinagar on August 29, 2016.

Separately, a senior army officer told Reuters that the army foiled two infiltration attempts by militants near the line of control with Pakistan. Four militants were killed in one of the gunbattles. Infiltrators attempting to cross the border were pushed back in the second clash in which no one was killed, authorities said.

Large swathes of Kashmir remain shut down for a third month, as Indian authorities struggle to contain violent demonstrations triggered by the killing by security forces in July of a young militant commander who was revered by some Kashmir youth.

On Saturday, two people were killed in new protests in Kashmir, taking the death toll to 75 since protesters took to the streets following the killing of Burhan Wani, the commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen group.

There was more trouble on Sunday when police fired tear gas to disperse a mob in Karimabad in southern Kashmir, and at least 50 people were injured in the clashes, the police control room said.

The violence in Indian Kashmir has reignited tensions with Pakistan as New Delhi blamed its neighbour for stoking further trouble there by pushing militants across the heavily militarised border that divides the region.

More troops have now been deployed on the Kashmir frontier to foil such infiltration attempts, officials said. Pakistan denies giving material support to the Kashmir guerrillas but says it provides moral and diplomatic support in Kashmir's struggle for self-determination.

Close
This article exists as part of the online archive for HuffPost India, which closed in 2020. Some features are no longer enabled. If you have questions or concerns about this article, please contact indiasupport@huffpost.com.