Troops kill 2 Kashmir rebel commanders

He said Ghulam Mohammed Malik and Mohammed Ashraf Padder were shot dead in separate clashes in northern Kupwara and southern Anantnag districts.

"Both were senior commanders of Hizbul Mujahedin and were on the security force list of most wanted militants," a police spokesman said.

Hizbul was one of the first rebel groups to launch an insurgency against Indian rule in Kashmir in 1989.

It wants to secede Kashmir from India and join it with neighbouring Pakistan. Others among the dozen or so militant groups operating in Kashmir want the Himalayan region to be independent.

Kashmir is held in part by India and Pakistan but both cla im it in full. They have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir but started a slow-moving peace drive in January 2004.