SRINAGAR: Eight people were killed in Indian-held Kashmir, including four Islamic militants shot dead in a gunbattle while trying to cross over from Azad Kashmir, police said Monday. They said 14 militants were trying to sneak across the Line of Control when the gunbattle took place Sunday around 150 kilometres from Srinagar. "The gunbattle continued for several hours and the bodies of four militants were later found at the scene," a police spokesman said. The others were believed to have fled into dense forests nearby. A fifth militant was killed elsewhere in a bid to flush out militants from a village, he said.Meanwhile a former militant who was helping Indian security personnel in anti-insurgency operations was shot dead by suspected Islamic rebels at Bandipora, 60 kilometres from Srinagar, he said. Two other people, one a police constable, were found in other locations with their throats slit after separate incidents, the spokesman said.