SRINAGAR, India, - Indian troops shot dead nine suspected militants on Saturday including five who were trying to enter Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani side of the disputed state, the army said.
The infiltrating rebels were killed in the northern sector of Keran, army spokesman J.S. Brar told AFP.
"We have foiled a major infiltration bid by killing five militants along the Line of Control," he said, referring to the de facto border that divides Kashmir between nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan.
It was the second such attempt by militants to enter Indian Kashmir from the Pakistani side in four days. Indian troops shot dead three "militant infiltrators" in the same area on Wednesday.
Indian soldiers shot dead four more militants in two gun battles in the southern districts of Rajouri and Kishtwar on Saturday, Brar said.
India accuses Pakistan of arming and funding Kashmiri militants, a charge Islamabad denies.
Rebels continue to sneak in despite a fence erected by the Indian army and a pledge by Islamabad to do its best to prevent militant infiltration into Indian Kashmir.
The 20-year-old Muslim insurgency in Indian Kashmir has claimed more than 47,000 lives, although violence has declined since an India-Pakistan peace dialogue started in 2004.
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