OCCUPIED SRINAGAR: freedom fighters attacked a police team in occupied Kashmir on Friday, killing two officers and wounding one despite tight security in the Muslim-majority region ahead of India's Independence Day. A group of freedom fighters opened fire on the police team that was on duty in the Nowgam area of Srinagar city, the chief of police in occupied Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, told Reuters.

"We had inputs that militants may carry out attack and were alert," said Kumar. "They came through a narrow lane and fired indiscriminately."

He said the fighters had been identified and vowed to "neutralize them" soon. The area had been cordoned off searches were going on, he said.

The attack comes days after the first anniversary of the revocation of occupied Kashmir's constitutional autonomy, a reform the Indian government said would promote the region's development by drawing it closer to the rest of the country. But many people in occupied Kashmir saw the loss of special autonomy as another step in the erosion of the rights of Muslims by the Hindu-nationalist government. The government rejects that.