JAMMU (India), Jan 28: Six militants and two soldiers were killed in a clash in insurgency-hit held Kashmir when an army patrol foiled an infiltration bid by freedom fighters, the army said on Saturday.

The gun battle erupted in Poonch district, 240 kilometres from Kashmir’s winter capital Jammu, army spokesman Colonel D. K. Badola told AFP.

“A group of seven to eight militants had entered India when the army patrol challenged them,” Badola said.

In the ensuing shootout, six militants, one army officer and one soldier were killed, he said, adding the military operation in the area had ended.

New Delhi accuses Pakistan of arming and pushing ‘militants’ into its zone of Kashmir to bolster an anti-India rebellion, a charge Islamabad denies.—AFP