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17 militants killed in encounters in Kashmir: AFP

Troops gunned down 17 militants in separate encounters in Kashmir, as two civilians and two soldiers were also killed in unabated violence in the state, the police said on Wednesday.

Police commandos early on Wednesday killed two rebels in the military garrison of Yaripura, in Anantnag district, some 65 km south of Srinagar.

"One civilian also died in the exchange of fire between the militants and the police," a police official told AFP.

A police spokesman said combat troops shot dead six Islamic guerrillas late Tuesday when they tried to enter Kashmir from Pakistan at a Ragni border point, some 150 km north of Srinagar.

The six had crossed the Line of Control, the police said.

"Six militants were killed in the firefight that lasted several hours. We recovered three AK-47 assault rifles, a machine gun and a pistol. We are keeping a vigil on the border to flush out militants who maybe in hiding," said the spokesman.

In a separate encounter, troops late on Tuesday foiled another infiltration bid at a border point in Rajouri 190 km north of Jammu. "Nine militants, four of them Pakistani, were killed in the encounter," said a defence spokesman.

"In the crossfire one Indian soldier was killed, while an army officer was seriously injured," he added.

"Pakistan-backed militants have stepped up their activities along the 187-km border from Kathua to Akhnoor in the Jammu sector," Lt Gen A S Khanna told AFP.

Meanwhile, local authorities Wednesday fished out the mutilated body of an alleged police informer, Ghulam Hassan, from a stream near Mirgund Pattan, some 20 km north of Srinagar.

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