NEW DELHI — Officials reported that two suspected militants were killed in an encounter with security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir on Friday. Concurrently, attackers claimed the lives of two members of a government-affiliated militia in a different part of the disputed region.

The area, which is divided between India and Pakistan but claimed by both nations, has seen a notable rise in violence in recent weeks.

According to the Indian military, a coordinated operation involving soldiers and police targeted a village near the northwestern town of Sopore late Thursday, acting on intelligence regarding the presence of militants in the area.

The alleged militants opened fire at the security forces, resulting in a firefight that left two militants dead, as noted in an official military statement.

The troops continued to conduct searches in the vicinity, while independent verification of the incident remains unavailable.

Simultaneously, in the remote southern region of Kishtwar, two personnel from the government-backed militia known as the “Village Defense Group” were reportedly attacked and killed by assailants late Thursday.

Local police attributed the attack to insurgents opposed to Indian authority in Kashmir.

The victims were taken from a forested region while they were tending to livestock earlier on Thursday, with their bodies discovered later that night, police reported.

Originally formed in the 1990s to protect against anti-India insurgency in remote Himalayan villages lacking rapid military access, the militia saw a decline as the insurgency eased and some of its members became notorious for violent conduct and human rights abuses, leading to its near disbandment.

However, following the killing of seven Hindus in two separate attacks in a remote mountain village near the heavily fortified Line of Control that separates Indian and Pakistani-administered Kashmir, the militia was reinstated last year, with authorities rearming and training thousands of villagers, including minors.

The group known as the Kashmir Tigers, which Indian officials contend is connected to the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad militant organization, took responsibility for the deaths of the two militia members in a statement disseminated on social media channels.

This assertion has not been independently verified.

Since 1989, militants in the Indian-administered part of Kashmir have opposed New Delhi’s governance. Many Muslim residents in Kashmir support the rebels’ aspirations of unifying the territory, either under Pakistani sovereignty or as an independent nation.

The Indian government maintains that the militancy in Kashmir constitutes terrorism supported by Pakistan. Conversely, Pakistan refutes this claim, while numerous Kashmiris view the actions of the militants as a legitimate struggle for autonomy.

This long-standing conflict has resulted in the deaths of tens of thousands, including civilians, rebels, and government personnel.