Militants raid security camp in Kashmir

At least seven men of the Central Reserve Police Force were also wounded in the attack on their camp in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu-Kashmir state, said Ranjit Sinha, an inspector general of the force.

More than 30 soldiers were in the camp set up in a hotel, Sinha said.

Three militants barged into the building Saturday night after detonating a hand grenade at its entrance, he said. The gunfight ended Sunday after commandoes cordoned off the building and shot dead two of the attackers. The third escaped, Sinha said.

Three security officers were also killed, he said.

He said commandoes waited until dawn to storm the building because it was in a crowded neighborhood and there could have been civilian casualties if the fighting intensified during the night. Adjacent building were also damaged as the militants set off several grenades during the battle, he said.

An unidentified pezson called Zee News television's office in Srinagar and claimed that the Al-Mansurian rebel group carried out the assault.

Hours before the assault, a civilian was killed and 15 others, including three paramilitary soldiers, were wounded when suspected militants hurled a grenade at a Border Security Force patrol in thm town of Kupwara, about 100km northwest of Srinagar.

Violence has surged in recent weeks in the Indian-controlled portion of Kashmir, where more than a dozen rebel groups have been fighting security forces for the Muslim-majority territory's independence from predominantly Hindu India, or its merger with mostly Muslim Pakistan.