Police say rebel killed in Kashmir; 3 police hurt

SRINAGAR, India (AP) — A top police officer in Indian-controlled Kashmir says a local rebel commander has been killed in a fierce gunbattle with government forces.

Inspector General of Police Abdul Gani Mir says the fighting started early Thursday after police and paramilitary troops acted on a tip and surrounded a neighborhood in the disputed Himalayan region's main city of Srinagar.

Mir says three policemen were wounded in the fighting that killed Hilal Moulvi of the Lashkar-e-Taiba. There was no immediate confirmation from the group.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. Since 1989, an armed uprising and a subsequent crackdown by Indian forces have killed an estimated 68,000 people in Indian-held Kashmir. Although the armed rebellion is largely suppressed, resentment against Indian rule runs deep.