At least two Indian Army soldiers and their two civilian porters were killed when militants ambushed an army vehicle in Kashmir.
The militants sprayed bullets at an army vehicle carrying soldiers close to the highly militarised line of control (LOC) near Gulmarg in Kashmir on Thursday night, the police said.
The de facto frontier divides the disputed federal territory between India and Pakistan, which they both claim in its entirety but control only parts of it. The Himalayan region is at the heart of the decades-old dispute between the two nations.
Militants in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi's rule since 1989, which has resulted in the death of thousands of people. New Delhi insists the Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism, a charge denied by Islamabad.
The attack took place hours after the lieutenant governor of the federal territory, Manoj Sinha, chaired a Unified Headquarters (UHQ) meeting in Srinagar to review the security situation amid the rising number of attacks in the region.
"A massive search operation has been launched against the militants responsible for the attack... Additional reinforcements have been sent to the area," an army officer, who didn't want to be named, told Reuters.
On Sunday, gunmen fatally shot at least seven people and injured five others working on a strategic tunnel project near another resort town of Sonamarg. Police blamed militants fighting against Indian rule for decades for the attack.
At least 19 people have been killed in the past 15 days, with the Gulmarg ambush being the latest, according to reports. The targeted attacks took place just days after an opposition alliance formed a local government after prime minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the disputed region of its special status five years ago.
Newly-elected chief minister Omar Abdullah, in a post on X, termed the "recent spate of attacks" in the region "a matter of serious concern".
"I condemn this attack is the strongest possible terms and send my condolences to the loved ones of the people who lost their lives," he added.
The lieutenant governor said he has directed officials for "swift and befitting reply to neutralise terrorists". "Sacrifice of our martyrs will not go in vain," his office said in a post on X.
