Indian troops surrounded a village in the southern Pulwama area on a tip that militants were hiding there, police said. As the soldiers began a search operation, militants jumped out of a civilian home and took position in a vast apple orchard while firing at soldiers and counterinsurgency police, said Muneer Ahmed Khan, a top police officer. Three rebels and a soldier were killed in the exchange of gunfire while one soldier was also wounded, he said. </s> A gunfight reportedly erupted between government forces and militants in south Kashmir's Shopian district's Hendew village.

As per reports, militants and government forces engaged in gunbattle following searches in the area.

Police had earlier rebutted news reports about millitant attack on Army in Shopian district.

On Thursday, three militants, an army man and a civilian were killed during a gunfight in Pulwama. Meanwhile, another gunfight is underway in Kupwara forests. </s> SRINAGAR (REUTERS) - Four Indian soldiers and a civilian were killed in a gunbattle in disputed Kashmir on Monday (Feb 18), a police official said, as India launched a hunt for suspected members of an Islamist militant group that killed 44 Indian paramilitary police last week.

A police spokesman in the northern state of Jammu & Kashmir said Indian troops had cordoned off Pinglan village in Kashmir's Pulwama district, where a suicide bomber rammed into a convoy of paramilitary police on Thursday (Feb 14).

Another state police official, who declined to be identified because the operation is not yet over, said information had been received about the presence of up to three militants from the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad group, including foreigners, inside a house in the village.

The second police official said four soldiers and a civilian were killed in the gunbattle.

"There was an exchange of fire early this morning that wounded the army men and the owner of the house. They died later," said official said.

An indefinite curfew has been imposed in Pulwama and police have asked people to stay indoors.

Mr Mohammad Yunis, a journalist in Pulwama, said troops were searching the village and civilians trapped in adjacent houses were being evacuated.

Pakistan has denied any links to the attack on the convoy of reserve police last week.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority region at the heart of decades of hostility, is claimed in its entirety by India and Pakistan but is ruled in part by both south Asian countries.

Indian forces have detained about 23 men suspected of links to Jaish, which has claimed responsibility for the deadliest attack on Indian security forces in decades. </s> SRINAGAR, India (AP) - Five rebels, two army soldiers and two civilians were killed Thursday during two gunbattles in disputed Kashmir that triggered anti-India protests and clashes, officials and residents said.

The first gunbattle broke out in a neighborhood in southern Pulwama town as police and soldiers scoured the area looking for militants, said Col. Rajesh Kalia, an Indian army spokesman. He said as troops began conducting searches, they came under heavy gunfire, leading to a clash that killed three militants and a soldier.

A civilian was also killed and his brother was wounded during the fighting, police said. Two soldiers were also injured.

Local residents said troops damaged one civilian home with explosives.

The fighting sparked protests and clashes as hundreds of residents tried to march to the site of the battle in solidarity with the rebels despite the security lockdown in the area.

Government forces fired shotgun pellets and tear gas at protesters, who threw stones at them. No one was immediately reported injured in the street clashes.

In the second gunbattle, also in southern Kashmir, government forces launched a search operation in a village near Shopian town following a tip that militants were hiding there, police said. As the troops surrounded a civilian house, militants reportedly came out while firing at them and tried to take refuge in a nearby apple orchard.

In the ensuing exchange of gunfire, two rebels, a civilian and a soldier were killed, police and residents said. Earlier, police had said three militants were killed. However, one of the slain people turned out to be a local resident, residents said. Police maintained that he was an "active associate" of the militants but acknowledged he was not an underground militant.

Meanwhile, the Joint Resistance Leadership, composed of three top separatist leaders who challenge India's sovereignty over Kashmir, called for a protest strike on Friday, saying there has been no letup in the bloodshed even in the Muslim fasting month of Ramadan "as civilians, armed youth or even Indian forces are getting killed."

"In one manner or the other, Kashmiris continue to pay the price of the unresolved Kashmir issue," they said in a statement. "Use of force against them continues unabated."

India and Pakistan each claim the divided Himalayan territory of Kashmir in its entirety. Rebels have been fighting Indian control since 1989.

Most Kashmiris support the rebels' demand that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country, while also participating in civilian street protests against Indian control.

About 70,000 people have been killed in the uprising and the ensuing Indian crackdown. </s> SRINAGAR: While a police statement said that three militants were killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's Shopian district, it was confirmed later that one of the victims was a civilian.

The police said in a statement on Thursday that three militants were killed in the gunfight that took place earlier in the day in Handew village.

While two victims were identified as Yawar Mushtaq and Shakeel Ahmed, both Hizbul Mujahideen (HM) militants from Shopian, the third was identified as a civilian, Ishtiyaq Ahmed Bhat.

A soldier, Rohit Kumar Yadav who was injured in the gunfight, succumbed to his wounds on Thursday night in the Army's 92 base hospital in Srinagar, the police said.

In Thursday's two gunfights in Pulwama and Shopian districts killed a total of five militants, two civilians and two soldiers.

Three Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) militants, including a top commander identified as a Pakistan national Khalid Bhai, a civilian and a soldier were killed in a gunfight in Dalipora village of Pulwama.

Police said Khalid Bhai had masterminded the 2017 attack on the Lethpora CRPF camp in Pulwama district in which five troopers were killed.

In a third shootout between the security forces and militants in Kupwara's Kandi forests on Thursday, there were no reports of any casualty.
Indian soldiers and counterinsurgency police exchange gunfire with militants in the southern district of Pulwama, resulting in the deaths of one soldier and three militants. The soldiers then opened fire on a crowd of anti-government protesters who gathered after the battle, killing seven civilians and injuring 40 others.