3 suspected Islamic rebels killed in Kashmir

The army shot and killed three suspected Islamic militants in a gunbattle in the Indian portion of Kashmir on Thursday, an army spokesman said. The soldiers recovered three AK-47 assault rifles from the insurgents who were hiding in a forest in mountainous Mahore, a town 180 kilometers (115 miles) north of Jammu, winter capital of India's Jammu-Kashmir state, said Lt. Col. S.D. Goswami, an army spokesman. The militants opened fire as the army closed in on them, Goswami said.