SRINAGAR: Indian soldiers shot dead three suspected militants, including a wanted commander, on Wednesday during a clash in revolt-hit Indian-administered Kashmir, the army said.

The militants were killed in the mountainous Mahore area, about 180 kilometres south of Srinagar, army spokesman Biplab Nath told AFP.

‘One of the slain militants was a senior commander of Hizbul Mujahideen,’ the spokesman said, referring to the region's most powerful group fighting to merge Indian-administered Kashmir with Pakistan.

He identified the slain commander as Maqsood Bhat, who had headed a list of ‘most wanted’ militants in the area.

Militants have been waging an insurgency since 1989 against India's rule of the region in a conflict that has left more than 47,000 people dead.

Despite the latest deaths, violence in the region has declined sharply since India and Pakistan, whose territorial dispute over Kashmir has triggered two wars, embarked on a peace process in 2004.