SRINAGAR: Two Indian soldiers were killed on Wednesday in a gunfight with suspected militants along the border that divides the disputed territory of Kashmir between India and Pakistan, Indian officials said. The two were allegedly killed during an operation to intercept ‘infiltrators’, the Press Trust of India news agency reported officials as saying. An armed rebellion against Indian rule has raged for decades in Kashmir, and has left tens of thousands dead, mainly civilians. New Delhi accuses Pakistan of arming and training anti-India rebels and sending them across the border to launch attacks on Indian forces. Islamabad strongly denies the charge, pointing to India’s own policies that have served to alienate and disenfranchise the people living in occupied Kashmir. In recent days, Prime Minister Imran Khan and Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi have both warned that India may carry out a false flag operation to deflect attention from its own atrocities in occupied Kashmir and the widespread protests breaking out over anti-Muslim laws enacted by New Delhi. PM Imran Khan on Saturday had urged Pakistani expatriates in the US to lobby for the country amid fears of a false flag operation by India.–Agencies
