REUTERS – Three militants were gunned down by security forces in India’s northern Kulgam district of Jammu and Kashmir state in an encounter on Sunday (July 22).

The exchange of fire took place in the early hours of the day when security forces launched a search operation; a day after a police constable was kidnapped, tortured and killed by these militants.

Reportedly, the slain policeman identified as Mohammad Saleem was abducted from his residence in Kulgam on Friday (July 20) night after which he was killed. Director General of Jammu and Kashmir police, S.P. Vaid, said weapons were also recovered from near the bodies of the militants.

Unrest has simmered in Kashmir, home to a separatist movement, for decades. An insurgency that erupted in 1989 against India has eased in recent years, but most Kashmiris yearn for independence, accuse security forces of widespread rights abuses and some support the few hundred militants still fighting.

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