SRINAGAR: Police in India-held Kashmir say that a top rebel leader has been killed in a pre-dawn gunbattle with government forces in the disputed Himalayan region.

IHK's Director-General Police K. Rajendra Kumar says Abu Qasim was killed Thursday in Kulgam area. There was no independent confirmation.

Kumar claims Qasim was a Pakistani national and operations chief of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militant group, which India blames for several attacks across the country, including one in 2008 in Mumbai that killed 166 people.

The Himalayan territory of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan by the UN-monitored de facto border of LoC. The territory is claimed in full by both the countries.

Tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians, have died in violence between Indian security forces and rebels fighting for Kashmir's independence or for its merger with Pakistan.