SRINAGAR: A top police officer in Indian-administered Kashmir said a local militant commander had been killed in a fierce gunbattle with government forces.

Inspector General of Police Abdul Gani Mir said the fighting started early Thursday after police and paramilitary troops acted on a tip and surrounded a neighborhood in the disputed Himalayan region's main city of Srinagar.

Mir said three policemen were wounded in the fighting that killed Hilal Moulvi of the Lashkar-i-Taiba.

There was no immediate confirmation from the group.

Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. Since 1989, an armed uprising and a subsequent crackdown by Indian forces have killed an estimated 68,000 people in Indian-administered Kashmir. Although the armed rebellion is largely suppressed, resentment against Indian rule runs deep.