Seven soldiers and two suspected Islamic separatist rebels were killed in an attack on an army camp in Indian Kashmir today, a defence official said.
The militants, wearing army uniforms, stormed the army camp in Akhnoor, 20 miles northwest of Jammu, winter capitalof Jammu and Kashmir, hurling grenades and spraying automatic weapons fire, an army officer said.
"We have killed both the militants who attacked the campand on our side the casualty toll is seven soldiers dead andsix soldiers wounded," the defence official said.
The raid came after six people died and 46 were wounded in an assault yesterday on pilgrims setting out for one of India's holiest Hindu sites.Militants in the region are seeking to stoke tensionsagain between nuclear-armed India and Pakistan.
The neighbours nearly went to war last year over attacks on Indian targets that New Delhi blamed on Pakistan-based militants.
But relations have thawed over the past few months after Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee said he wanted to make a new push for peace.