6 combatants, 2 workers killed in fresh violence in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India- (AP) — Assailants have fatally shot two non-local workers in two targeted attacks in Indian-controlled Kashmir, days after five people were killed in a similar fashion in the disputed region. The incidents on Saturday night come hours after police said government forces killed four suspected militants in the last 24 hours and claimed three of them were involved the last week’s killings of three members of minority communities. Police blamed militants fighting against Indian rule for the attacks on Saturday and called the killings “terror attacks.” Also on Saturday, the Indian army said the death toll from a Thursday gunfight with rebels in a forested area of southern Mendhar climbed to four as troops recovered the bodies of two soldiers missing in action.