'Four militants' die in Kashmir clash

Hundreds of thousands of troops are based in Kashmir

Four militants have been killed in a two-day gun battle with security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir, the Indian army says.

At least one army officer was also killed and five soldiers injured in the fighting. Unconfirmed reports said three soldiers may have died.

The army said the militants were members of the Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen (HuM) group.

Kashmir is at the centre of decades of hostility between India and Pakistan.

The region has been the cause of two of their three wars since independence from British rule in 1947.

The two sides met for their first formal talks since the 2008 Mumbai (Bombay) attacks last month and agreed to keep talking.

'Active militants'

The latest fighting broke out on Wednesday morning after Indian troops surrounded Dadasar village where the militants had been hiding, an army spokesman said.

The militants had been active in the area for 15 years and carried out several landmine attacks on Indian security forces, the spokesman said.

The BBC's Altaf Hussain in Srinagar says there has been an increase in clashes between militants and the army in the Kashmir valley in which the military has suffered heavy casualties.

Thousands of Indian troops are fighting a two-decade separatist insurgency in the area.