SRINAGAR, India - Indian troops killed a top commander of a hardline rebel group in revolt-hit Kashmir in a gunbattle early Tuesday, the army said. The commander belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba, one of several hardline rebel groups fighting against Indian rule in Kashmir, the army said.“A top Lashkar commander Mohammed Sultan, alias Khalid, was killed in an operation in Chithargul village of (southern) Anantnag district,” army spokesman Colonel Hemant Juneja said.
The fighting erupted when soldiers raided a rebel hideout on a tip-off that militants were meeting there, Juneja said. Troops were combing the area to see if more militants were hiding in the area, the spokesman said.