Eight dead in Kashmir gunfights

SRINAGER, India, Sept. 24 (UPI) -- Separate gun battles between militants and security forces in Indian-administered Kashmir left eight people dead, including an Indian army officer, police said.

Those killed in the fighting in northern Kashmir's Bandipora district also included a soldier and two top militant commanders, CNN reported quoting the police.

The fighting began Wednesday when security forces stormed a house in Banyari village, 20 miles from Srinagar, where the two militant commanders were holed up, the report said.

"The holed-up militants were asked to surrender, upon which they started indiscriminate firing at the troops. One major of the Rashtriya Rifles and a soldier were killed in the militant gunfire," a police officer said.

After reinforcements arrived, the gun battles went on for about 24 hours in which both the militant commanders were killed, police said. They were identified as belonging to the Lashkar-e-Toiba and the Hezbul Mujahedeen Islamic militant groups.

In another gun battle Wednesday in a forest area in nearby Baramulla district, an Indian navy commando and an army trooper died along with two militants, police said.