Indian army trooper kills officer in Indian controlled Kashmir

An Indian army trooper killed a junior level officer (JCO) inside a camp following a brawl in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said Friday. The fratricide took place Thursday night at a stationed camp at Larnoo camp in Kokernag of Anantnag district, about 85 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. "Last night an army trooper indiscriminately firing upon a JCO, killing him on spot," said a police official. "The body of JCO was brought to Anantnag district hospital for postmortem." The deceased JCO was identified as Rajinder Singh. Reports said a scuffle broke out between the two after the officer refused to sanction leave to the trooper. The accused trooper has been detained and a murder case was registered against him.Indian troops stationed in Indian- controlled Kashmir, battling armed insurgency are reported to be under a lot of stress and strain. Indian-controlled Kashmir is considered as the highest militarized region. Officially India does not reveal the actual number of its troops deployed in the troubled region. However, rights activists say there are over 700,000 Indian troops and paramilitary troops in the region fighting an anti-India insurgency that broke out in 1989. During the past more than two decades several incidents of suicide and fratricide among the stationed troops were reported. Health experts say continued separation from family, long duty hours, lack of recreational facilities, poor command and control structure were usually found to be behind such incidents. A guerrilla war is also going on between militants and Indian troops stationed in the restive region since 1989. The gun fighting between militants and Indian troops in Indian-controlled Kashmir takes place intermittently.