Five soldiers and 3 rebels killed in Kashmir clashes

SRINAGAR, India (Reuters) - The leader of a Pakistan based militant group and his bodyguard have been killed in Indian Kashmir, police said on Friday, while at least five soldiers and another separatist guerrilla died in a separate gun battle.

Abu Atif, killed on Thursday to the south of the summer capital of Srinagar, was described by Indian police as the operational chief of Lashkar-e-Taiba in Kashmir.

"Atif's killing is a big blow to the militant organization," said S.M. Sahai, the inspector general of police.

"Besides killing at least 50 civilians and security force personnel, Atif was also responsible for planning attacks in different parts of the country."

His bodyguard was also killed, police said.

In another incident, five more Indian soldiers and a separatist guerrilla were killed on Friday in a prolonged gun battle that first broke out on Tuesday, an army spokesman said, taking the death toll from that clash to 18.

It was the heaviest toll in a single firefight in the Himalayan region for two years.

A soldier and 11 rebels had earlier been killed in the battle, which broke out in Kupwara Forest close to the "Line of Control" that divides the disputed region between India and Pakistan.

India accuses Pakistan of arming, training and sending militants to its part of Kashmir, a charge Islamabad denies.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed since a revolt against Indian rule broke out in 1989.

Officials say violence involving Indian troops and separatist militants has declined in Kashmir since the two south Asian neighbors, who have fought wars over the region, began a slow-moving peace process in 2004.

Both claim the region in full but rule in parts.

But people are still killed in daily shootouts and occasional bomb attacks.

(Reporting by Sheikh Mushtaq; Editing by Jonathan Allen and Alex Richardson)

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