Indian troops say top rebel in Kashmir killed
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Indian officials say government forces have killed the top rebel commander in their part of the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir.
Police Director-General K. Rajendra says Burhan Wani, chief of operations of Indian Kashmir's largest rebel group Hizbul Mujahideen, was killed in the fighting Friday after Indian troops, acting on a tipoff, cordoned a forested village in the southern Kashmir's Kokernag area.
Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed in entirety by both. On India's side, about a dozen rebel groups have been fighting for independence or merger with Pakistan since 1989.
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In his early 20's, Wani had become the iconic face of militancy in Kashmir over the last five years.
Inspector-General Syed Javaid Mujtaba Gillani described his killing as the "biggest success against militants" in recent years.