Four suspected rebels killed in India's state

Four suspected rebels and a soldier were killed in separate clashes Friday in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir, police said.

Soldiers raided the village of Damhal late Thursday after receiving a tip that separatist rebels were hiding there, sparking a gunbattle that continued until early Friday, police officer Mohammad Ali said, adding that two suspected rebels were killed, according to the AP.

Damhal is a small village about 70 kilometers (43 miles) south of Srinagar, the summer capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state.

In a separate raid, two other guerrillas were killed in fighting with Indian security forces in the nearby village of Kellar, Ali said.

All four slain guerrillas belonged to the largest Kashmiri rebel group, Hezb-ul-Mujahedeen, he said. However, his claim could not independently verified.

Meanwhile, in the village of Shaylan, about 230 kilometers (143 miles) southwest of Srinagar, suspected militants fired on troops searching for rebels and weapons, killing a soldier, police said. The attackers managed to flee.

Hezb is one of more than a dozen rebel groups that have been fighting since 1989 for Kashmir's independence or merger with Pakistan. More than 66,000 people, most of them civilians, have been killed in the conflict.