Suspected gunman killed, seven wounded in Kashmir clashes

A suspected militant was killed and seven security personnel were wounded in clashes in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said.

The first incident occurred late Tuesday night in Hiranagar, a village near the frontier with Pakistan which, like India, claims the Himalayan region in full.

Security forces rushed to the border village, with a man killed in the resulting gunfight who police believed had crossed over from the Pakistan side.

"This appears to be a fresh infiltration in which one terrorist was killed and the search for one more is ongoing," Anand Jain, a top police officer told reporters on Wednesday.

Hours later, suspected rebels lobbed grenades and fired at an army checkpoint in the remote Doda area around 100 kilometres (60 miles) to the north, leaving six soldiers and a police officer wounded.

Six of the wounded were transported to hospital for treatment, police senior superintendent Javaid Iqbal said. "A search operation is on in the forest area," he added.

The incidents came days after a gunman opened fire bullets on a bus full of Indian pilgrims returning from a Hindu shrine in the southern Kashmir district of Reasi, leaving nine dead and dozens wounded.

Survivors at a hospital said on Tuesday that the attacker continued firing on the bus for several minutes after it tumbled down into a ravine.

Back-to-back incidents

Army special forces and police have launched a manhunt in a vast forested area and released a sketch of the attacker, announcing a reward of $24,000 for information leading to his location.

India has around 500,000 soldiers permanently deployed in the territory.

The three back-to-back incidents follow an uptick in attacks in the southern areas of the territory.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, and the rivals have fought three wars over control of the territory.

India has long relied on military force to retain control over the portion of Kashmir it administers.

Rebels in the India-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989. Most Kashmiris support the rebels' goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

But the territory has simmered in anger since 2019, when New Delhi ended the region's semi-autonomy and drastically curbed dissent, civil liberties and media freedoms while intensifying counterinsurgency operations.

New Delhi insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and most Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle.

According to several human rights groups, thousands of people have been killed and tortured in the conflict since 1989.