SRINAGAR, April 15: Indian troops shot dead four suspected militants in occupied Kashmir, police said on Sunday, while a Muslim man was also beheaded in further violence.

Two of the militants were killed in a clash on Sunday with troops near Shopian, 55 km (34 miles) south of the summer capital, Srinagar, police said, adding the two were members of the region's most powerful rebel group, Hizbul Mujahedin.

Two other militants were shot dead on Sunday in a similar clash with troops and police in a district south of Shopian, a police spokesman said.

Police said suspected militants beheaded a Muslim man in the Pulwama district, where Shopian is located, early Sunday.

The motive for the killing was not immediately known, although militants regularly target people suspected of working with police and troops.

Indian police are probing five cases in which innocent civilians were killed and passed off as militants that came to light in early 2007. Police have charged 17 security force and police members with murder in two cases.—AFP