Police say 5 suspected militants killed in gunfight with Indian troops in disputed Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India — Indian soldiers killed five suspected militants in a gunfight along the highly militarized de-facto frontier in disputed Kashmir, police said Friday.

The gunfight began early Friday after a joint team of police and army soldiers carried out an counterinsurgency operation in northwestern Kupwara district along the so-called Line of Control dividing the Himalayan region between nuclear-armed rivals Pakistan and India, police said in a post on Twitter.

No other details were immediately released to media and there was no independent confirmation of the shootings.

India and Pakistan each claim the divided territory of Kashmir in its entirety.

Rebels in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and most Kashmiris consider it a legitimate freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.