Indian forces, in their latest act of state terrorism, martyred two Kashmiri youths in a fake encounter in Kupwara district of Indian Illegally Occupied Jammu and Kashmir today.

According to the Kashmir Media Service, the youths were martyred during a cordon and search operation in the Jamgund-Keran area of Kupwara.

Local residents, observers and human rights organisations have expressed serious concern over the growing number of extrajudicial killings of unarmed Kashmiri youths in staged cordon and search operations.

They said the youths were taken from different areas, prisons or interrogation centres and killed during search operations before being labelled as "militants".

Meanwhile, Indian forces have launched search operations at several locations in the Poonch and Rajouri districts of the Jammu region. Indian police have arrested five Kashmiris — Azaan Nabi, Majid Ahmad, Sheikh Umais, Mohammad Shafi Butt and Danish Hassan — from different areas of Islamabad district.