Armed militants attacked a major Indian army base near the Line of Control (LoC) early Tuesday, killing two soldiers, police said.

“Three to four militants entered the Army Corps headquarters at Nagrota and fired towards the officers' mess,” a senior police officer told AFP, referring to a town in northern India roughly 20 kilometres from the border.

“Two officers were killed and an exchange of fire is on,” he told AFP by phone, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Defence ministry spokesman Manish Mehta said the attack was still going on, but did not comment on the casualties.

“Early morning an encounter took place and terrorists have entered one of our military areas. The situation is under control, as soon as the operation is over we will be able to give details,” he told reporters.

“Terrorists are armed, they have weapons, and that is why firefight is taking place.”

No group has claimed responsibility for the attack on the Nagrota base, one of four command centres in the northern state of Jammu and Kashmir and home to over 1,000 officers.

The rise in violence follows the September Uri attack, in which 19 Indian soldiers were killed, the deadliest such incident in a decade.

New Delhi blamed Pakistan-based militants and claimed to have launched what it called “surgical strikes” on militants across the heavily militarised border, sparking fury from Islamabad, which denied they took place.