WORLD BRIEFING / INDIA

Indian forensic experts exhumed the bodies of two Kashmiri women who many in Muslim-majority Kashmir believe were raped and killed by Indian security forces in May. The investigation is aimed at defusing the latest tensions in the disputed Himalayan region.

Underscoring the ongoing violence, three suspected militants and a civilian woman were killed in a shootout with security forces in the village of Tral in southern Kashmir, an army spokesman said.

The alleged attacks on a 22-year-old woman and her 17-year-old sister-in-law in May rekindled anti-India sentiments in the territory, where militant groups have been fighting for independence since 1989 but where violence has been waning over the last few years.