Indian troops kill four rebels in Kashmir

INDIA: Indian troops have shot dead four Islamic militants, including two commanders, in two separate raids on their hide-outs in revolt-hit Kashmir, police said Friday.

Three of the militants were killed during a fierce gunbattle in southern Udhampur district late Thursday, a police spokesman said.

"The army and police ringed their (militant) hideout and asked the hiding militants to surrender. They instead opened fire," the spokesman said.

He said all three killed in the shoot-out belonged to top rebel group Hizbul Mujahedin, which favours Indian Kashmir's merger with Pakistan.

"One of the slain militant, Shabir Ahmed alias Tufail, was working as Hizbul's battalion commander," the spokesman said. He said Ali Baba, a commander with hardline rebel group Lashkar-e-Toiba, was shot dead in northern Baramulla district late Thursday during a similar gunbattle.

SRINAGAR, Friday, AFP