4 Troops Dead in Indian Kashmir Gunbattles with Militants

Four soldiers were killed on Monday in two separate battles with suspected militants in Indian Kashmir, officials said, shortly after a mobile phone shop employee was left dead in another attack in the disputed region.

A military spokesman said two soldiers were killed in a firefight when suspected militants were found trying to cross from Pakistan into Tangdhar in India, 180 kilometers (110 miles) from the region's main city of Srinagar.

"During the firefight, four jawan (soldiers) sustained injuries,of which three succumbed and one is out of danger," N. N. Joshi said in a statement.

The attack came hours after another soldier was killed in a separate incident further south in Kulgam district. Two suspected rebels were killed in both incidents.

The disputed Kashmir region has been wracked by separatist violence for more than two decades that has left tens of thousands dead, mainly civilians.

Also on Monday, a mobile phone shop employee was gunned down when another group of suspected militants attacked a shop in the northern town of Sopore, around 35 kilometers from Sringar.

"An employee of a telecoms franchisee was killed while two others were injured when militants fired upon (their)... office," a separate police statement said.

Several rebel groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989 for independence or a merger of the Himalayan territory with Pakistan. 

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the two countries won independence from Britain in 1947.

Violence in the region has steadily declined during the last decade, but armed encounters between rebels and government forces still occur regularly.