The Indian army said on Sunday it foiled two bids by militants to sneak from Pakistan into India held Kashmir in gunfights that left eight guerrillas and three soldiers dead. At least three militants and one soldier were killed in a firefight sparked by a group of guerrillas trying to infiltrate Indian territory on Saturday night near the Saujian sector, said Lt Col RK Chhiber. The bid by the militants in Saujian, about 150 kilometers (95 miles) southwest of Srinagar, came hours after the army reported a similar encounter in another part of the divided Himalayan region. The other gunbattle in Gurez sector occurred after an army patrol spotted a group of militants near the cease-fire line that splits held and Azad Kashmir. When the soldiers challenged the militants, they opened fire, setting off a gunfight that lasted several hours, said army spokesman Lt Col AK Mathur.
Three militants were reported killed on Saturday, but as security forces combed the area through the night they found the bodies of two more militants and two soldiers, Mathur said on Sunday. Security forces were still searching the area, about 120 kilometres (75 miles) north of Srinagar, the summer capital of held Kashmir.