OCCUPIED SRINAGAR: Indian troops killed four separatists in gun battles in occupied Kashmir on Wednesday, including the commander of the biggest separatist group fighting New Delhi in the disputed Himalayan region, a police official said.
Hundreds of Indian soldiers launched an operation late on Tuesday after receiving intelligence that Hizbul Mujahideen commander Riyaz Naikoo was hiding in a village in south occupied Kashmir's Pulwama district.
Authorities also disabled mobile internet across the Indian occupied Kashmir (IoK) region early on Wednesday to forestall large crowds from gathering in the streets to mourn his killing.
"He was trapped in a house and early today a gun battle took place during which he and his associate were killed," Kashmir's Inspector General of Police, Vijay Kumar, told Reuters.
Two separatists were killed in another gun battle nearby on Wednesday, Kumar added.
Naikoo, 35, had joined the separatists in 2010, two years after around 100 people were killed by troops during a restive summer marked by protests and violence.
A former maths teacher with a bounty of 1.2 million rupees ($15,800) on his head, Naikoo was an aide to Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani who was killed in July 2016, leading to months of unrest.
"It is a major success for the troops in Kashmir", Kumar said.
Amid a nationwide lockdown to contain the spread of the coronavirus, Indian troops have intensified operations in Kashmir, the country's only Muslim-majority state that was split into two federally administered territories last August.
Since late March, Indian forces have killed 36 militants, losing around 20 soldiers, including a high-ranking army officer, during the same period, according to official data.