Four Indian soldiers killed in Held Kashmir gunbattle

Four soldiers have been killed in Indian-occupied Kashmir during ongoing clashes with freedom-fighters in the disputed Himalayan territory.

The Indian army said on Thursday that an "intense firefight" broke out Wednesday after troops pursued fighters into the dense forests of Kalakote in southern Occupied Kashmir.

"The attackers have been injured and surrounded", the Indian army's White Knight Corps said late Wednesday. It did not give details of casualties.

But an army officer and a police official, both speaking on condition of anonymity as operations were ongoing, told AFP on Thursday that four soldiers had been killed, including two elite commandos.

The army did not give details of how many fighters were involved.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since their independence in 1947, with both claiming the high-altitude territory in full.