5 policemen, 2 security guards killed in south Kashmir's Kulgam as militants target cash van

Suspected militants killed five policemen and two security guards in south Kashmir's Kulgam on Monday as they looted the cash van of a government-run bank, authorities said.

The victims were killed by the attackers who dragged them out of their vehicles, south Kashmir DIG SP Pani said.

The van was dispensing cash to local branches. The van was returning to a bank in the village of Pumbai area, around 70km south of Srinagar, when it was attacked.

The incident came against the backdrop of spiralling tension in the Valley, which has been reeling due to clashes and street protests by people chanting separatist slogans since the death of a popular militant leader last July.

Earlier in the day, two Indian soldiers were killed by rockets and mortars fired by Pakistan along the southwest of the Line of Control in the Krishna Ghati sector in Jammu and



Kashmir.

Kashmir has remained largely paralysed since government forces shot dead Hizbul Mujahideen leader Burhan Wani, touching off months of deadly street protests. The government responded with force, leaving more than 100 people dead.

Violence spiked again in last month after eight people were killed during an assembly by-election in Srinagar. Since then, several video clips purportedly showing alleged human rights abuses by security forces have also added to public anger, often manifested in large throngs of stone-throwing crowds taking small groups of well-armed security forces.

About a week ago, Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti met with Prime Minister Narendra Modi in Delhi, saying the PM was "amenable" to talks with all stakeholders to restore peace in the region but that no dialogue was possible in the face of bullets and stones.