A gun battle between government forces and suspected insurgents raged for a fourth day Sunday in a densely forested region of Indian Kashmir, police said. At least seven combatants have been killed. The fighting started Thursday when government soldiers came under fire as they were searching for about half a dozen militants believed to be hiding near Bhatidhar, a remote village about 180 km southwest of Srinagar, said Col. D.K. Kachari, an Indian army spokesman. Four suspected insurgents, two army soldiers and one police officer were killed in the gun battle, said K. Rajendran, an inspector-general of police. Three soldiers and three police officers were injured. “We have killed four suspected militants but their bodies are yet to be recovered because of the continuing exchange of gunfire,” he said. India accuses Pakistan of arming and training insurgents to fight Indian forces in Kashmir, a charge denied by Islamabad. The countries have fought two wars for control of Kashmir since they won independence from Britain in 1947.
