5 rebels killed in fighting with Indian soldiers in Kashmir

At least five rebels were killed and three civilians and a soldier injured on Thursday in armed confrontations and anti-India protests in disputed Kashmir, officials said.

An Indian army soldier takes position behind a tree during a gunbattle at Pakharpore village, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Four militants died in heavy fighting in southern Pakharpore village after troops launched a counterinsurgency operation on a tip that rebels were hiding in a house, said Col. Rajesh Kalia, an Indian military spokesman.

Residents said soldiers used explosives to blast the house.

Indian army soldiers guard during a gunbattle at Pakharpore village, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017.  (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

As the fighting raged, hundreds of residents protested in solidarity with the rebels and clashed with the government forces to help the trapped militants escape. Three civilians were injured in the clashes as government forces fired bullets and shotgun pellets to stop the rock-throwing protesters.

In a separate gunbattle in the Sopore area, one militant was reportedly killed and an army commando was wounded, police said.

An Indian army soldier guards during a gunbattle at Pakharpore village, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

No rebel group commented on the clashes, the latest in a string of deadly confrontations between Indian forces and rebels in restive Kashmir.

Indian army soldiers guard as a Kashmiri villager carries a child on his shoulders during a gunbattle at Pakharpore village, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

About 200 rebels and 70 government soldiers have been killed in fighting this year.

An Indian army soldier guards during a gunbattle at Pakharpore village, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017.  (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

Nuclear-armed rivals India and Pakistan both claim Kashmir and control portions of the region. Anti-India sentiment runs deep, and most people support the rebels' cause while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control.

Indian army soldiers guard during a gunbattle at Pakharpore village, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017.  (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training the rebels, which Pakistan denies.

Indian army soldiers share a lighter moment as they guard during a gunbattle at Pakharpore village, south of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir, Thursday, Nov. 30, 2017. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)

About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian military crackdown.

DAKAR, Senegal (AP) — A funeral was held Thursday for Mali 's former defense minister, Gen. Sadio Camara, a key architect of the military government’s security partnership with Russia.

Camara was killed during last weekend's coordinated militant attack in the West African nation, the largest in over a decade.

His death, and the major setback endured by the Malian army and its Russian mercenary allies, risk creating divisions within the junta and could lead it to reconsider its partnership with Moscow, analysts say.

After two days of national mourning, a funeral ceremony for Camara was attended by junta leader Gen. Assimi Goita and broadcast live on national television. The coffin was draped in the green, yellow and red of the Malian flag while large portraits of the former defense minister lined the ceremony hall.

Camara was born in 1979 in Kati, the same garrison town near the capital Bamako where he was killed when a car bomb exploded outside his home on Saturday.

As a field officer, he was deployed to northern Mali in the late 2000s, amid a rise in rebellions by armed groups, some linked to Al-Qaeda. After graduating from a military academy, he went abroad on several training assignments, including at a military academy in Russia.

Malians first became familiar with Camara when, as a colonel, he appeared on national television in August 2020 among a group of five officers who had overthrown President Ibrahim Boubacar Keita.

The officers accused Keita of being propped up by France and not doing enough to contain the rampant militant attacks in the country. They pledged to provide more security.

Following the coup, the new junta turned to Russia as its new security partner, expelling French troops and U.N. peacekeepers.

Camara quickly came to play a central role in establishing Russia as Mali's main security partner. He served as defense minister under both of Mali’s successive military governments — first following the 2020 coup and then reappointed after a second coup in May 2021 which brought Goïta to power.

Ulf Laessing, head of the Sahel program at the Germany-based Konrad Adenauer Foundation, said Camara was the “architect of cooperation with Russia,” proposing the deployment of Russian mercenaries in 2021 and the expulsion of the U.N. peacekeeping mission, known as MINUSMA.

Camara, who made frequent trips to Moscow, played a key role in the coups and his stewardship of the war effort made him an indispensable figure for the junta despite a deteriorating security situation, according to Laessing.

On Monday, the recently created Africa Corps — a Russian military unit that reports to the defense ministry in Moscow, estimated to have around 2,000 troops in Mali — said its fighters had withdrawn from Kidal, two days after separatists said they had taken the key northern city.

Rida Lyammouri, senior fellow at the Policy Center for the New South, a Morocco-based think tank, said Camara's death and a growing frustration from the population and military leadership over the Russian mercenaries inability to curb the insurgencies, could result in the junta reconsidering its partnership with Moscow.

Goita, who met with the Russian ambassador to Mali on Tuesday, “seems open to collaboration with some Western countries, such as the United States,” said Laessing.

Soldiers wait for the start of the funeral for Mali's former defense minister Sadio Camara at the Military Engineering Parade Ground in Bamako, Mali, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Boubacary Bocoum)

Soldiers wait for the start of the funeral for Mali's former defense minister Sadio Camara at the Military Engineering Parade Ground in Bamako, Mali, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Boubacary Bocoum)

Mali's junta leader Gen. Assimi Goita attends the funeral of former defense minister Sadio Camara at the Military Engineering Parade Ground in Bamako, Mali, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Boubacary Bocoum)

The flag draped casket that contains the remains of Mali's former defense minister Sadio Camara during a funeral ceremony at the Military Engineering Parade Ground in Bamako, Mali, Thursday, April 30, 2026. (AP Photo/Boubacary Bocoum)

FILE - Mali's Defense Minister Sadio Camara enters a hall for a talk in Moscow, Russia, on Feb. 28, 2024. (Maxim Shipenkov/Pool Photo via AP, File)