A gunbattle between militants and soldiers has erupted in Indian Kashmir's summer capital Srinagar hours before Prime Minister Manmohan Singh was due to arrive in the disputed region.
Indian soldiers have reportedly killed two militants. There was firing in the heart of the city, near a cricket stadium where Singh was scheduled to address a public meeting later on Wednesday when India also begins withdrawing some troops from the Himalayan territory.
A police officer said the gunbattle began as soldiers surrounded a run-down building after a tip-off that two militants had entered last night. The building, a former hotel, overlooks the cricket stadium.
Television footage showed soldiers crouching behind armoured jeeps near the site as more troops arrived.
Mr Singh, making a first visit to Kashmir since taking office in May, was due to land this morning and then drive to Kashmir's revered Hazratbal shrine. Hundreds of soldiers were on the streets of Srinagar, and snipers were on rooftops ahead of Singh's arrival.
The attack came as New Delhi begins a phased withdrawal of some troops from Kashmir, which Pakistan also claims and has been the cause of two of the three wars between the nuclear-armed neighbours since independence from British colonial rule in 1947.
Mr Singh announced the unprecedented cut in troops this month, citing a reduction in an infiltration of militants from the Pakistani part of Kashmir.
Islamabad has welcomed the move, which analysts say has breathed new life into a sluggish peace process between the old foes, who agreed a truce along the ceasefire line that divides Kashmir last year after coming to the brink of war in 2002.
But the main alliance of Kashmiri separatist politicians ruled out meeting the prime minister, and a hardline faction of the alliance has called for a day-long general strike today, demanding that Mr Singh apologise for what it said were atrocities committed by Indian soldiers.
Mr Singh, state authorities said, was expected to announce a financial package worth some 40 billion rupees to rebuild damaged infrastructure in the state, improve basic public services and boost the local economy ravaged by violence.