Four suspected militants and two Indian Army soldiers have been killed in a gunbattle in Indian-controlled Kashmir, army officials have said.

The alleged militants were hiding in a south Kashmir village when the army and police surrounded it, a police official said on February 12.

In the ensuing fire fight, four militants and two soldiers were killed.

A civilian caught in the crossfire also died, officials said.

"Four terrorists were killed and four weapons were recovered from the encounter site," army spokesman in Srinagar, Colonel Manish Mehta said.

The Indian army said three soldiers were injured in the violence. Residents said government forces blasted the house with explosives.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British rule in 1947. Both claim the disputed Himalayan territory in its entirety and have fought two wars over it.

Rebels have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989.

More than 65,000 people have been killed in the uprising and Indian military crackdown.

Based on reporting by AP and AFP </s> Three Indian soldiers and a militant were killed Tuesday in a gunbattle in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir.

Army spokesman Col. Rajesh Kalia said the army launched an operation early Tuesday to flush out militants from a northern village following a tip that some rebels were hiding there. The soldiers had cordoned off Hajin village when a fierce gunbattle broke out in which three soldiers and a rebel were killed.

At least five other soldiers, including an army officer, were wounded in the firefight, Kalia said.

There was no independent confirmation of the incidents.

Both India and Pakistan claim the Himalayan territory in its entirety. Rebel groups in Indian-controlled Kashmir have been fighting for independence or a merger with Pakistan since 1989. More than 68,000 people have been killed in the fighting. </s> Image copyright AP Image caption Pakistan and India have overlapping territorial claims in Kashmir

Seven suspected militants have been killed in two separate gun battles with security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir, authorities say.

The Indian army said four militants were shot dead in a clash in the state's Kupwara district on Sunday.

Another three rebels were killed after they tried to storm a government office in Poonch district.

A curfew has been in effect for over two months across Kashmir following an upsurge of violence since 9 July.

The protests were sparked by the killing of a popular militant leader. Burhan Wani, 22, died in a gunfight with the Indian army.

More than 70 people, mostly young men, have since been killed in clashes between protestors and security forces, and thousands more injured in the worst violence seen in the region for years.

On Sunday Indian soldiers killed four militants as they tried to cross the de-facto border that divides the disputed Himalayan region between India and Pakistan in Kupwara, an army official said.

"They tried to infiltrate into Nowgam sector (an area northwest of the main city of Srinagar) and were intercepted. Four militants were killed and their AK rifles were recovered," army spokesman NN Joshi told the AFP news agency.

Three other rebels were killed after they tried to enter a government office in Poonch. A policeman was also killed in the clash.

The clashes with militants came as stone-pelting residents protesting against Indian rule of the region clashed with security forces in Pulwana and two other places in the southern Kashmir valley, leaving many injured, police said.

Disputed Kashmir is claimed in its entirety by both India and Pakistan and has been a flashpoint for more than 60 years, sparking two wars between the countries.

Within the disputed Muslim-majority territory, some militant groups have taken up arms to fight for independence from Indian rule or a merger with Pakistan. </s> At least three Pakistani soldiers have been killed by Indian border forces in Kashmir, according to officials in Islamabad, while an equal number of Indian troops and one suspected rebel were gunned down in separate clashes.

The Pakistani troops died early on Tuesday after being wounded overnight, Pakistan's army said in a statement, adding that Indian troops had fired across the Line of Control, a de facto frontier that divides the Himalayan valley between the two countries.

Hours later, three Indian soldiers were killed in a gun battle with suspected rebels in India-administered Kashmir.

One suspected rebel also died in the clash in Bandipora district, the Indian army's Northern Command said.

Renewed violence

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since they won independence from Britain in 1947. Both claim the territory in its entirety.

Several rebel groups have for decades fought the 500,000 Indian troops deployed in the region, demanding independence or a merger of the territory with Pakistan.

The fighting has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead.

READ MORE: Shot in the eyes - Kashmiri girl tells her story

The latest violence came three days after four suspected rebels, a civilian and three soldiers, were killed in south Kashmir, sparking pro-independence demonstrations that were put down with live ammunition and pellet guns, wounding more than two dozen people.

The disputed region has seen renewed protests and attacks following the killing of a popular rebel commander in July last year.

At least 100 civilians have been killed in the subsequent crackdown, according to health officials. </s> SRINAGAR, India (AP) — Two Indian soldiers have been killed in fighting with Pakistani soldiers and suspected militants along the volatile frontier in Indian-controlled Kashmir, officials said Saturday.

An army officer said militants overnight ambushed an Indian army patrol, killing one, while Pakistani soldiers provided covering fire near Machil sector along the Line of Control dividing the disputed region between India and Pakistan.

The officer, speaking on condition of anonymity as he was not authorized to speak to media, said that militants crossed over from the Pakistani-controlled Kashmir while taking advantage of rugged terrain and thick foliage. He said Indian soldiers retaliated and killed an insurgent in what he described as “face-to-face combat.”

He said the militants “mutilated” the body of the Indian soldier before fleeing to the Pakistani side.

There was no independent confirmation of the incident.

In a strongly worded statement, the Indian army called the soldier’s mutilation a “despicable act.”

“This barbarism is a true reflection which pervades official and non-official organizations across the border,” the statement said. “This act will invite an appropriate response.”

Shortly after, cross-border clashes erupted at several posts in Machil sector, killing another Indian soldier.

In Pakistan, the military in a statement said that India on Saturday again resorted to unprovoked firing along the Line of Control and that the soldiers from the two countries were still exchanging fire. It did not say Pakistan suffered any casualties.

Indian and Pakistani troops in recent weeks have frequently exchanged cross-border fire, causing casualties on both sides. Both have blamed each other for initiating it.

While the Line of Control is guarded by the Indian and Pakistani armies and divides the two parts of Kashmir, each country also has a separate paramilitary border force guarding the lower-altitude frontier separating Indian-controlled Kashmir and the Pakistani province of Punjab.

Troops from the two countries have regularly traded fire since last month, when India said it carried out “surgical strikes” against militants in the Pakistan-controlled part of Kashmir. Pakistan dismissed the claim and called on India to produce evidence to back it up.

On Thursday, each nation expelled a diplomat amid the escalating tensions.

Two of the three wars between India and Pakistan since 1947 have been fought over their competing claims to Kashmir. Each has administered part of Kashmir since 1947. India accuses Pakistan of training and arming anti-Indian militants and helping infiltrate into the Indian side.

Pakistan denies this, saying it only offers moral and diplomatic support to the militants and to Kashmiris who oppose Indian rule.

Associated Press writer Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan, contributed to this report. </s> Pakistani doctors at a hospital in Muzaffarabad, capital of Pakistani Kashmir, treat a villager injured during an attack on Wednesday, Nov. 23, 2016.

MUZAFFARABAD, Pakistan — Indian troops fired on a Pakistani passenger bus in Kashmir on Wednesday, killing 10 civilians in one of the deadliest incidents in weeks of violence in the disputed Himalayan region, stoking tensions between the nuclear-armed rivals.

Pakistan's Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif called the shelling "naked aggression," and the government summoned an Indian diplomat to lodge a protest. The Pakistani army contacted its Indian counterpart over a crisis hotline, saying "we reserve the right to respond at the place and time of our choosing."

The Pakistani military said it had already fired back at Indian positions, killing seven soldiers, but there was no word on casualties from the Indian side. Indian army spokesman Col. Nitin Joshi said an intense exchange of fire was underway.

Kashmir is split between Indian and Pakistani areas of control and claimed in its entirety by both countries. The South Asian rivals fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, and it remains one of the world's most intractable conflicts.

Waheed Khan, a Pakistani police official in the region, said the Indian shelling also hit villages near the Line of Control separating the two sides, killing another two civilians and causing others to flee. At least three Pakistani soldiers were also killed, the military said, adding that Indian troops had fired on an ambulance.

The latest exchange of fire came a day after the mutilated body of an Indian soldier was found in Kashmir. The Indian military did not say whether the soldier was killed by Pakistani soldiers or Kashmiri rebels, who have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989.

"Retribution will be heavy for this cowardly act," Col. Rajesh Kalia, another Indian army spokesman, said after Tuesday's attack.

Tensions have soared in Kashmir since militants attacked an Indian army base there in September, killing at least 17 soldiers. India said the militants were supported by Pakistan, charges denied by Islamabad. The two sides have traded blame for the cross-border fire and have accused each other of violating a 2003 cease-fire in Kashmir.

Last week, the Pakistani army claimed to have shot down a small Indian drone in Kashmir, a day after the navy said it had intercepted Indian submarines entering the country's territorial waters in the Arabian Sea.

Associated Press writers Munir Ahmed in Islamabad, Pakistan, and Aijaz Hussain in Srinagar, India, contributed. </s> SRINAGAR, India (AP) — The Latest on the tensions between India and Pakistan (all times local):

Pakistan's military says two of its soldiers have been killed in an exchange of fire with Indian forces near the Line of Control that separates the disputed Himalayan region of Kashmir between the rivals.

It marked the first fatalities for Pakistani troops since Wednesday, when tensions dramatically escalated between the nuclear-armed neighbors over Kashmir, which is split between them but claimed by both in its entirety.

Pakistan's army said in a statement Saturday that the soldiers were killed in the Nakiyal region of Kashmir in the past 24 hours. It said there were reports of troop casualties on the Indian side.

Since overnight Friday, a total of at least six civilians have been killed on both sides of Kashmir.

Tensions between India and Pakistan have been running high since Indian aircraft launched a strike in Pakistan on Tuesday in response to a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 troops.

Indian police say two paramilitary soldiers and two counterinsurgency police officials have been killed in a gunbattle with militants in Indian-controlled Kashmir, while troops fatally shot a civilian during anti-India protests.

Police said Saturday that the fighting began Thursday night in a forested area in the northwestern Handwara area after Indian troops surrounded the area on a tip that militants were hiding there.

Since then, fighting has been on and off. In addition to the fatalities, at least eight soldiers and police have been wounded.

Police said a young man was killed Friday when government forces fired at anti-India protesters who threw stones while trying to reach the site of the fighting. Several people were also injured in the clashes.

The fighting comes amid tensions between India and Pakistan that have been running high since Indian aircraft launched a strike in Pakistan on Tuesday in response to a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 troops.

Pakistan's military says Indian troops have fired across the Line of Control into the Pakistan-controlled portion of the disputed region of Kashmir, killing two civilians and wounding two others.

The casualties Saturday bring to six the number of people killed on both sides of Kashmir since overnight Friday.

Pakistan's military said in a statement that its troops "gave a befitting response by targeting Indian posts."

The Indian army said Pakistani soldiers attacked Indian posts at several places along the militarized line later Saturday.

The latest exchange of fire between the nuclear-armed rivals came a day after Pakistan released an Indian pilot to defuse tensions. Pakistan arrested the pilot this past week after shooting down two Indian planes in Kashmir, which is split between the countries but claimed in its entirety by both.

Tensions have been running high since Indian aircraft launched a strike in Pakistan on Tuesday in response to a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 troops.

Hundreds of people who were forced to flee border villagers this week amid a dramatic escalation of hostilities between Pakistan and India have urged the international community to play its role in resolving the issue of Kashmir so that they can live peacefully.

Mohammad Latif, a laborer who is taking refuge at a government building vacated for sheltering displaced families, says, "Whenever India fire mortars, it's we who suffer."

Parveez Kazmi, a woman whose married daughter lives in Indian Kashmir, was weeping on a road in Muzafarabad city. She cannot travel to Indian-controlled Kashmir because of recent suspension of a key bus service by New Delhi.

She says people living on both sides of Kashmir often miss funerals and weddings of their dear ones because of tension between Pakistan and India.

On Saturday, people in Pakistan's part of Kashmir continued fleeing border villages for safety amid a resumption of deadly shelling.

A Pakistani government official says Indian troops with heavy weapons have "indiscriminately targeted border villagers" along the two countries' Line of Control in the Himalayan region of Kashmir, killing a boy and wounding three others.

The official, Umar Azam, said Saturday that Pakistani troops are "befittingly" responding to the Indian fire.

He says several homes were destroyed in Pakistan's part of Kashmir, which is split between them and claimed by both in its entirety. India said earlier that Pakistani fire killed two siblings and their mother on its side.

Pakistan and India have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir since their independence from British rule in 1947.

Saturday's exchange of fire came a day after Pakistan handed over a captured Indian air force pilot to India as a "gesture of peace" to defuse tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbors over the disputed Kashmir region.

Officials say two siblings and their mother have been killed in cross-border shelling between Indian and Pakistani soldiers in disputed Kashmir.

Indian police say the three died overnight after a shell fired by Pakistani soldiers hit their home in Poonch region near the so-called Line of Control that divides the Himalayan territory of Kashmir between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

Tensions have been running high since Indian aircraft crossed into Pakistan on Tuesday, carrying out what India called a pre-emptive strike against militants blamed for a Feb. 14 suicide bombing in Indian-controlled Kashmir that killed 40 Indian troops.

Pakistan retaliated, shooting down a MiG-21 fighter jet Wednesday and its pilot, who was returned to India on Friday in a peace gesture. </s> The Indian Army on Monday carried out a "retaliatory action" against Pakistani troops, killing seven of their soldiers and injuring four others along the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu and Kashmir's Poonch district.

The action comes after an Indian soldier was killed in Pakistani firing along the LoC in Jammu and Kashmir's Rajouri district on Saturday.

"Army has carried out retaliation against Pakistani troops across Jaglote area along the LoC in Mendhar sector of Poonch district", a senior army officer told PTI.

"In the retaliatory action, there were seven fatal casualties to Pakistani troops and four others injured," he said.

Sources told The Indian Express that the Pakistani troops resorted to sudden mortar shelling and small arms fire on forward Indian positions along the LoC in Dehri Dabsi area around 10:15 am and the Indian Army retaliated strongly.

Meanwhile, the Pakistani government also released a statement:

Security forces on Monday also foiled an infiltration bid in Uri sector of Jammu and Kashmir, killing five Jaish-e-Mohammad militants. A defence spokesman said that five militants were killed.

This comes as army chief Bipin Rawat said that India will scale up "action" if Islamabad continues supporting terror and infiltration of militants.

"On the Line of Control (LoC), the Pakistan Army is continuing ceasefire violations and helping terrorists to infiltrate (into India). We are using our might to teach them a lesson. Any provocative action from Pakistan's side will get a befitting reply," he said. </s> At least four Pakistani army soldiers were killed in a fresh round of border clashes with Indian forces on the disputed Kashmir border on Monday, Pakistan’s army said.

Three Indian soldiers were also killed and several others injured in an exchange of fire, Inter Service Public Relations (ISPR), the Pakistan’s army media wing, said in a statement.

"Indian forces fired heavy mortar rounds on Pakistani soldiers when they were busy with line communication maintenance along the Line of Control in Azad Jammu and Kashmir's Jandrot sector," the statement added.

The latest cross border-attack incident comes days after Indian Army Chief Gen Bipin Rawat’s statement threatening a "nuclear bluff," drawing a strong condemnation from Pakistan's Foreign Minister Khawaja Asif, who branded it irresponsible and not befitting Rawat’s office.

According to Pakistan's Foreign Office, so far this year, Indian forces have committed more than 70 cease-fire violation along the disputed Kashmir border, killing one civilian and injuring five.

India and Pakistan share more than 950 kilometers (590 miles) of border in disputed Kashmir. The two countries signed a cease-fire agreement in 2003, but they violate it regularly.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is held by India and Pakistan in parts and claimed by both in full. A small sliver of Kashmir is also held by China.

Since they were partitioned in 1947, the two countries have fought three wars – in 1948, 1965 and 1971 – two of them over Kashmir.

Since 1989, Kashmiri resistance groups in Jammu and Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule for independence, or for unification with neighboring Pakistan.

More than 70,000 people have reportedly been killed in the conflict so far, most by the Indian armed forces. India maintains more than half a million troops in the disputed region.
At least three Pakistan Army soldiers are killed by the Indian Army, while separate clashes kill three Indian Army soldiers and one suspected militant, at the Line of Control.