BREAKING NEWS

Gun battle with militants kills 4 Indian soldiers, civilian in Kashmir

SRINAGAR, India - Four Indian soldiers and a civilian were killed in a gun battle in disputed Kashmir on Monday, a police official said, as India launched a hunt for suspected members of an Islamist militant group that killed 44 Indian paramilitary police last week.
A police spokesman in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir said Indian troops had cordoned off Pinglan village in Kashmir's Pulwama district, where a suicide bomber rammed into a convoy of paramilitary police on Thursday.
Another state police official, who declined to be identified because the operation is not yet over, said information had been received about the presence of up to three militants from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, including foreigners, inside a house in the village.
The second police official said four soldiers and a civilian were killed in the gun battle.
"There was an exchange of fire early this morning that wounded the army men and the owner of the house," the official said. "They died later."
An indefinite curfew has been imposed in Pulwama and police have asked people to stay indoors.