Militants attack Indian base in Kashmir region, three dead

(Reuters) - Militants dressed in army uniforms attacked an Indian army base in the disputed state of Kashmir on Thursday, killing one soldier and wounding two, as the leaders of India and Pakistan attended a regional summit aimed at boosting trade.A gun fight between the militants and the army was continuing, a senior Indian army officer said. Two militants had been shot dead and one arrested, the officer said.

Four to five militants attacked the army base near the town of Arnia, about four km (2.5 miles) from the border with Pakistan, the officer, who did not wish to be named as he is not authorized to speak to the media, said.The militants had divided into two teams, with one group heading for an army bunker and the other holed up inside a village house, the officer said.The gunmen didn't infiltrate from the Pakistani side of the border, a senior Border Security Force official said.

"They came in a car to Arnia and took shelter in a bunker and targeted the army," he said.

India and Pakistan fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Pakistani counterpart, Nawaz Sharif, are attending the annual South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation in Nepal and their bickering has meant the leaders have refused to meet each other.

Muslim separatists have been fighting Indian forces in India's part of Kashmir since 1989. India accuses Pakistan of training and arming the rebels in the part of Kashmir it controls and sending them to the Indian side, a claim its neighbor denies.

India and Pakistan exchanged their heaviest gunfire in a decade last month, killing more than 20 people.

Reuters