Indian soldiers killed two fighters in India-occupied Kashmir (IoK) along the border with Pakistan as they attempted to cross into the India-occupied part of the territory, the army said on Friday.

An “intense and heavy firefight” was triggered on Thursday night between soldiers and “infiltrating terrorists” near the Line of Control, the Indian army’s White Knight Corps said in a statement on social media.

The overnight fighting led “to the neutralisation of two terrorists”, the statement said, referring to the suspected fighters.

Weapons and “war-like stores” were recovered from the site, the army claimed, but it was not clear if the bodies of slain fighters were also retrieved.

The incident could not be independently verified.

India has a permanent deployment of more than half a million soldiers in the disputed territory, and groups have waged a struggle for self-determination for decades.

Fighting has decreased since 2019, when Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government imposed direct control of the territory from New Delhi after cancelling its partial autonomy.

But last year thousands of additional troops, including special forces, were deployed across the southern mountainous areas following a series of deadly attacks that left more than 50 soldiers dead in three years.

India regularly accuses Pakistan of supporting and arming the fighters, a claim that Pakistan has denied repeatedly.