The Indian army killed three militants today in the first major gunbattle between security forces and rebels since Islamabad outlawed two frontline pro-Kashmiri separatist groups in Pakistan, Indian police said.
Police said the dead men belonged to the Lashar-e-Taiba, one of the groups banned by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf who pledged last weekend to ensure his country's soil was not used as base for terrorist attacks against India.
Three militants of Lashkar-e-Taiba were killed by the army at Lawaypora after a day-long gunbattle, a police official told Reuters. Lawaypora lies north of Srinigar, the summer capital of the Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir which is at the core of the dispute.
Announcement of the killings came ahead of US Secretary of State Mr Colin Powell's scheduled arrival in New Delhi later today on a mission aimed at averting a war between nuclear rivals India and Pakistan.
India, which has mounted a massive troop buildup along the border with Pakistan, has vowed its soldiers will stay in place until Mr Musharraf ends what New Delhi calls cross-border terrorism by Islamic extremists fighting its rule in Kashmir.