 Seven suspected militants were killed in two separate gunbattles in held Kashmir on Friday, and an explosion outside a school killed a student and wounded eight others, officials said. Security forces raided a suspected rebel hideout in Sonabrari, a village 80 kilometres south of Srinagar, killing six militants in a fierce gunbattle, army spokesman Col RK Sen said. After the fighting, soldiers recovered four AK-47 assault rifles and one pistol from the rebels, Sen said. He said the guerrillas belonged to the outlawed Harkat-ul-Mujahideen group and that one was a district commander. There were no casualties among the Indian troops. Elsewhere, in Kralgund village, about 90 kilometers north of Srinagar, a suspected militant was killed in a firefight with troops, Sen said. Also on Friday, suspected militants hurled a hand grenade at a school entrance, killing one teenage student and wounding eight others, Javed Makhdoomi, a senior police officer, said. Two boys were in critical condition. The insurgents targeted the school in Nadhihal, a village 70 kilometres north of Srinagar, because government soldiers are occupying part of the school building, Makhdoomi said. |