Shooting hits pilgrimage route in Kashmir

Police in Indian-administered Kashmir say there's been an exchange of gunfire between the security forces and Muslim militants on the route of a Hindu pilgrimage.

Details of the incident are still coming in, but there are believed to have been a number of casualties.

The shooting broke out in the town of Pahalgam, on the route taken by pilgrims to the Hindu shrine of Amarnath.

The attack came despite a heavy security deployment on the pilgrimage route.

A BBC correspondent in the region says it's by far the most serious incident since a militant Kashmiri group Hizbul Mujahideen announced a unilateral ceasefire last week.

Other separatist groups have refused to join the truce. Hizbul Mujahideen has announced that it will be sending a representative to meet a government official on Wednesday to discuss the terms of the ceasefire.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service