Two rebel commanders among five killed in Indian Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India, Sunday (AFP) - Two top members of Indian Kashmir's most powerful rebel group, Hizbul Mujahedin, were among five people killed in the latest bout of violence in the revolt-hit region, police said Saturday.

The bloodshed came as separatists geared up for talks with India's Prime Minister Manmohan Singh in New Delhi on Monday to discuss the future of the region, racked by an insurgency against New Delhi's rule since 1989.

A police spokesman said Adil Pathan, one of the Hizbul commanders, was shot dead in the southern Pulwama district Saturday during a pre-dawn clash with Indian soldiers and special counter-insurgency police.

Pathan, a Pakistani national, was believed to be involved in a June 13 car bombing in the same district that killed 14 people, including three security force officers, the police spokesman said.

No group has claimed responsibility for that blast, which injured over 100 people.

Another Hizbul commander was shot dead during a similar clash in the southern district of Udhampur on Saturday, police said.

Two Hindus and a Muslim were killed late Friday when suspected militants sprayed them with bullets in the village of Sourbathi in southern Doda district, a police spokesman said.

He said one of the slain Hindus was working with counter-insurgency police. Three Indian army soldiers were wounded in a landmine explosion near the town of Sopore, 50 kilometers (31 miles) north of the summer capital Srinagar, on Saturday, police said..