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Top militants killed in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, Indian-Administered Kashmir (CNN) — Three top militant commanders were killed in two separate encounters with security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir, police said.

The clashes, which culminated with their deaths on Sunday, followed five days of heavy snowfall across Kashmir that claimed 19 lives, 10 of them on Friday alone.

Late Saturday Indian army and paramilitary forces engaged a group of militants hiding in south Kashmir, Noorpora village, 45 kilometers (28 miles) from the capital of Srinagar, a police spokesman said.

He identified them as belonging to Hizbul Mujahedeen, comprising mostly local militants.

As (they) refused to lay down their weapons, a sustained encounter resulted, which continued for several hours, the spokesman said.

A militant commander and the financial chief of the group were among the dead, he said.

A top commander of Pakistan-based Harkatul Mujahedeen was killed in a separate north-Kashmir encounter between militants and Indian security forces, the spokesman said.

Indian security forces have recently intensified their operations against militants. In the past 15 days, nearly 20 militants have been killed across Indian-administered Kashmir in gunfights.

Kashmir has long been an object of dispute between nuclear rivals and neighbors India and Pakistan, and militants fighting for Kashmir’s separation from India have been carrying out attacks against the Indian security forces in Kashmir for 19 years.

The separatist violence has left 42,000 people dead, officials said. However, rights groups and various non-governmental organizations put the number at twice that official figure. E-mail to a friend

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Question of the Week: Rainforest protection

International emissions trading schemes are becoming a more profitable deal. For rainforest countries, the growth of carbon trade markets in Europe and the U.S. could present a more viable alternative to government aide, as industrialized nations pay up for the pollution they create through so-called carbon credits.

Rainforests, in carbon trade jargon, are considered great carbon sinks that help absorb carbon dioxide and combat global warming. However, they are disappearing at an alarming rate. Rainforest countries feel they are not being compensated for preserving the forests, a laborious enterprise in developing nations that often struggle with providing a basic socio-economic infrastructure for their own people.

But until there will be a reliable trading scheme in 2012, what can be done now to help save the remaining forests? The government of Guyana are in talks with the British government to lend the country’s 16 million hectare rainforest until 2012 when a regulated carbon trading scheme is created.

Question: Do you think this is a viable solution to conserve the rainforests? Send us your thoughts to ecosolutions@cnn.com

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