At least 24 people have been killed in separatist violence in India's Kashmir state, officials said today.
Officials said seven paramilitary soldiers, three militants and a civilian were killed in a 12-hour gunbattle which began late yesterday in the town of Sopore, north of Srinagar, the summer capital of India's northern state of Jammu and Kashmir.
Three soldiers were also wounded. Two officers of the Indian Border Security Force were among the dead. Army and paramilitary soldiers sealed off the area for search operations.
The Lashkar-e-Taiba, a separatist guerrilla group based in Pakistan, claimed responsibility for killing the soldiers. A group spokesman telephoned newspaper offices in Srinagar to say it inflicted heavy casualties on the security forces.
In another gun battle today, Indian security forces shot dead four militants in Kokernag south of Srinagar, police said.
Two teenaged boys were killed in a landmine explosion in the forest nearby, they said.
Suspected separatist militants shot dead a village chief and wounded his child in Udhampur 232 kilometres (144 miles) southeast of Srinagar, authorities said.
Elsewhere, security forces shot dead six separatist guerrillas across the mountainous valley since yesterday evening, police said.