Five guerrillas killed in Kashmir gunfight

Five separatist guerrillas, who are foreigners, were killed in a midnight gunfight with security forces in Kashmir, a police official said Friday.

A senior police official told IANS that on specific information, troops of counter insurgency 24 Rashtriya Rifles and the state police surrounded an area on the fringes of Najwan forest near Preng health resort in north Kashmir's Ganderbal district, 35 km from here.

"When the troops tightened the cordon, hiding militants fired at them triggering an encounter at the end of which five militants were killed," the official said.

The identities of the slain guerrillas are being established, the official said.

He, however, added preliminary reports have indicated that all the slain guerrillas are foreign nationals.

Security forces did not suffer any damage in the operation.