Briefs | India – Gunbattle in Kashmir kills 3 combatants

Anti-India protests erupted in Indian-controlled Kashmir following a fierce gunbattle in which two rebels and a counterinsurgency policeman were killed, police said yesterday. Government forces, acting on a tip, encircled a civilian home in the southern Tral area overnight, said police chief S.P. Vaid. He said fighting erupted after militants hurled grenades and fired automatic rifles to break a security cordon. Two militants and a policeman working with a counterinsurgency unit were killed, he said. At least three other security officials, including an army officer, were wounded.

Japan – Rescue helicopter crashes:  at least 3 dead

A rescue helicopter carrying nine people crashed in snow-covered mountains in central Japan during a training flight yesterday, leaving at least three people dead and four missing. Nagano prefectural police said three men pulled from the crash site were airlifted to nearby hospitals but pronounced dead, and two others found later were unconscious. Police said they believed the remaining four were still trapped underneath the debris from the helicopter. TV footage showed the mangled aircraft sitting belly-up in the snow-covered forest on the side of Mount Hachibuse, about 250 kilometers northwest of Tokyo.