Soldiers in Indian-administered Jammu and Kashmir battled insurgents on Wednesday, with a captain and a suspected rebel killed in clashes in the disputed territory, the army and police said.
The Indian army, in a post on social media platform X, offered its “deepest condolences” over the death of the officer.
Police said in a statement that “during the ongoing operation, one terrorist has been neutralised,” a term they use indicating a gunman had been killed.
The violence is the latest in a string of clashes in the Hindu-dominated southern Jammu region this year.
Gun battles erupted last Tuesday in forests near the tourist resort of Patni Top.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence from British rule in 1947, with each side claiming it in full.
Indian Defense Minister Rajnath Singh called a meeting with army, security, and intelligence chiefs on Wednesday after the latest clashes in Jammu, which had been relatively peaceful for the past two decades.
Thousands of additional troops, drones, and sniffer dogs have been deployed in the mountainous terrain, where new army posts are being set up.
The fighting comes as the region prepares for the expected announcement of the first local assembly elections in a decade.
Rebel groups have waged an insurgency since 1989, demanding independence for the territory or its merger with Pakistan.
The fighting has killed tens of thousands of civilians, soldiers, and rebels.
India and Pakistan accuse each other of stoking militancy and espionage to undermine each other and the nuclear-armed rivals have fought several conflicts for control of the region.
