SRINAGAR, Dec 27: An Indian soldier and a civilian were killed in a gun battle between suspected rebels and government forces in held Kashmir, the army said on Wednesday. Suspected militants opened fire on two vehicles carrying troops on Tuesday evening, killing a soldier and the civilian driver of one of the vehicles, said Col Hemant Juneja, an Indian army spokesman.

Another soldier was wounded in the attack in Rakh Litter village, some 40 kilometres south of Srinagar, he said.

Separately, two civilians were wounded on Wednesday in an explosion triggered by a remote-controlled device in Baramulla, a town 55 kilometres north of Srinagar, said Vipalv Kumar, a police officer.

On Tuesday, the soldiers had hired private vehicles and were on their way back to their base after an operation, Juneja said. The militants later fled from the scene of the attack, he said.

A man identifying himself as the spokesman of the Al Mansoorian militant group called local newspaper offices and claimed responsibility for the ambush.

Another person, claiming to be the spokesman of the Hizbul Mujahideen, in a telephone call to the Current News Service, a local news agency, said the group had detonated the explosive device in Baramulla.

Their claims could not be independently verified.

On Wednesday, traders shut down their businesses and hundreds of residents took to the streets in Shopian, the hometown of the civilian driver Mukhtar Ahmed, alleging that the army had forcibly taken him to drive their vehicle.

Shopian is 55 kilometres south of Srinagar.—AP