Two freedom fighters were killed in Indian-held Kashmir Sunday following an intense gun battle with government forces at a school, police said. Rebels had ambushed a paramilitary police patrol on Saturday evening, killing one trooper and injuring two others in a hail of bullets, before fleeing into the nearby school on the outskirts of the region's main city of occupied Srinagar.
Police and soldiers had surrounded the school as the freedom fighters continued firing on them, according to Muneer Ahmed Khan, inspector general of police in Kashmir. "The gun battle is over. Two militants have been killed," director general of police S.P. Vaid told AFP. He said neither of the dead men were locals and police only knew their code names. The Islamic fasting month of Ramadan, which ends with the upcoming Eid-ul-Fitr feast, has been a particularly bloody one for mainly Muslim Kashmir.
Fifty-one people have been killed this Ramadan in the restive region according to Khurram Parvez from the occupied Jammu Kashmir Coalition of Civil Society, which monitors conflict-related deaths. Among the dead was a policeman beaten to death by an angry mob outside a mosque on Thursday. Earlier that same day, a civilian was killed and several wounded when troops opened fire on a crowd gathered for the funeral of three freedom fighters slain by Indian soldiers. A week earlier, six officers were ambushed and killed by suspected rebels.
Civilian toll More civilians and freedom fighters were among the dead this Ramadan than last, Parvez said. The conflict has increasingly drawn in civilians, many of whom oppose Indian rule. Whole communities sometimes come out to throw stones at government forces as they fight militants.
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