Five Indian soldiers, two militants killed in Kashmir

Five Indian soldiers and two Muslim rebels were killed in a gunbattle in Kashmir on Sunday, police said, a day after Pakistani and Indian troops traded fire across the de facto border.

The deaths came during some of the fiercest fighting for months and follow Saturday's cross-border firing that left one Indian soldier dead.

The fighting on Sunday erupted in northern Kupwara district as Indian troops launched a search operation in thick forest.

'As the troops moved in, militants opened fire killing five soldiers, including an officer,' a police officer said, adding two militants had died in retaliatory firing.

'The fighting is going still going on,' he said, adding army reinforcements have been rushed to the area.

Pakistan and India agreed to a 2003 ceasefire along the Line of Control, which divides Kashmir between the two, and have since held slow-moving peace talks.

The negotiations came to a halt after last November's Islamist militant attacks on Mumbai that India has blamed on the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba.

New Delhi has also accused 'official agencies' in Pakistan -- a reference to the Inter-Services Intelligence spy agency -- of involvement in the Mumbai attacks.

India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over mainly Muslim Kashmir, which held in part by each country but claimed in full by both.