SRINAGAR: Suspected rebels ambushed Indian soldiers patrolling a highway in Kashmir Thursday and killed two of them, said officials.

Paramilitary inspector general Nalin Prabhat said the militants sprayed the soldiers with automatic fire before the soldiers could respond.

No militant group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack in the town of Awantipora, about 35 kilometers (22 miles) south of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Police and paramilitary soldiers have cordoned off the area while they investigate.

Rebels in the divided Himalayan region of Kashmir have been fighting against Indian rule since 1989. An estimated 68,000 people have died in the conflict. Many want independence or a merger with neighboring Pakistan, which controls another part of Kashmir.