World News:Four killed as militants take gun fight to paramilitary camp in Indian

Three militants who Tuesday stormed a

paramilitary base near the main airport in

Indian-administered Kashmir have been

killed, police said, ending an hours-long

gunbattle that also left a soldier dead.

Three paramilitary troopers and a police

officer were injured when the attackers

hurled grenades and fired automatic

weapons at the Border Security Force (BSF)

base next to the high-security Srinagar

airport before dawn, said director-general of

police S.P. Vaid.

"All the three militants have been killed. An

assistant sub-inspector of BSF also died in the

initial assault," Vaid told AFP.

Flights at the airport, which shares a

compound wall with the base, resumed after

being suspended briefly with at least one

flight from New Delhi cancelled, authorities

said.

Kashmir's inspector-general of police,

Muneer Ahmed Khan, blamed Pakistan-based

militant group Jaish-e-Mohammed for the

attack but denied some media reports that

the fortified airport was the target.

He told reporters the Islamist group was a

threat "because they believe in surprise

suicide attacks".

In August the group claimed responsiblity

after three militants stormed a police base at

Pulwama in Kashmir, killing eight

government personnel. The three attackers

were also killed in a two-day battle.

Kashmir has been divided between India and

Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule

in 1947 but both claim the territory in full.

For decades rebel groups have fought Indian

soldiers deployed in the territory,

demanding independence or a merger of the

former Himalayan kingdom with Pakistan.

Tuesday's attack came hours before an Indian

soldier was killed by Pakistani fire on the de

facto Kashmiri border in the mountainous

Poonch district southwest of Srinagar.

The rival armies routinely target each other

across the heavily militarised Line of Control

that divides the territory.

On Monday the Indian army said it killed five

suspected rebels in two separate gunbattles

on the border.

Indian authorities said two children were also

killed by Pakistani gunfire at another location

along the Line of Control.

India says Pakistan initiates cross-border

firing to help rebels cross into Indian-

administered Kashmir to launch attacks.

Islamabad says it gives only diplomatic

support to the Kashmiri campaign for self-

determination.

Last week Pakistan said three civilians were

killed on its side of the border in Kashmir

after Indian soldiers opened fire.