4 soldiers among 6 killed in Pulwama

Srinagar: Four soldiers and two terrorists were killed on Saturday in a fierce gunbattle in Jammu and Kashmir, an Army spokesman said.

The exchange of fire broke out late on Friday and was still continuing, he said.

"As our troops tried to enter the house, the terorrists fired indiscriminately and hurled grenades killing three soldiers instantly and critically wounded a junior commissioned officer who succumbed to his injuries," a police officer said.

The fighting between the terrorists and the 62 Rashtriya Rifles soldiers took place in Nildora, a forested village in the Shopian area of Pulwama district 65 kilometers south of Srinagar.

"On a tip off, (the) Army laid siege to a hideout and asked terrorists to surrender, the militants opened fire which resulted in an encounter," Lieutenant-Colonel A K Mathur said.

In an unrelated incident, in south Kashmir's Pampore district, security forces surrounded a mosque in Wuyan village, 20 km from Srinagar where one terorrist was holed up.

More than a dozen terrorist groups have been fighting in Jammu and Kashmir since 1989. More than 68,000 people have been killed in the conflict.

But authorities say violence involving terrorists and security forces has declined in the region since India and Pakistan started a peace process in 2004.

Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee is expected to hold informal talks with his Pakistani counterpart next week in the first meeting between the two foreign ministers in more than a year.

Monday's talks between Mukherjee and Khursheed Mehmood Kasuri would come almost two weeks after top diplomats of the two coutries held their first talks in nearly a year and finalised a plan to set up a joint panel to tackle terrorism and curb tensions.