SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Three Indian troopers and a police officer have been killed in separate gunfights with rebels over the previous two days within the mountainous Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, officers stated Wednesday.

Indian authorities forces launched a joint operation in opposition to the militants late on Tuesday within the Kokernag space of Kashmir’s Anantnag district.

After a lull in a single day, preventing resumed there on Wednesday, a military assertion stated. Two troopers — a colonel and a significant — and the police officer have been killed, police stated. Officials didn’t touch upon any militant casualties in Kokernag.

The second gunfight erupted within the district of Rajouri, a extremely militarized space near the Line of Control that divides Kashmir between India and Pakistan. It left a soldier and two militants useless, the military stated in a press release Wednesday.

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan every administer part of Kashmir, however each declare the territory in its entirety.

Rebel teams have been preventing since 1989 for Kashmir’s independence or merger with neighboring Pakistan. Most Muslim Kashmiris assist the insurgent purpose of uniting the territory, both below Pakistani rule or as an impartial nation.

New Delhi insists the Kashmir militancy is sponsored by Pakistan, which Islamabad denies. Most Kashmiris take into account it a professional freedom wrestle.