Militants attack Indian troops in Kashmir, injuring one

SRINAGAR, India, Nov. 29 (UPI) -- Militants attempting to infiltrate from Pakistan into India attacked Indian troops in the Jammu and Kashmir region, injuring a porter working with the unit, officials said on Sunday.

The incident occurred Saturday in the Sabjian sector of the Poonch district, southwest of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

Xinhua news agency quoted a military official as saying troops returned fire and launched a search operation to apprehend the militants.

The attack comes one week after an Indian army officer was injured by militant fire in a dense forested area in the region's Kupwara district -- where the week prior, Col. Santosh Mahadik, commanding officer of the 41 Rashtriya Rifles, was killed in a militant ambush.

Indian security forces have made repeated contact with suspected Pakistani infiltrators during a sweep that began Nov. 13 in a wooded area known as Haji Naka.

Lashkar-e-Taiba -- a Pakistan-based terrorist group implicated in the 2008 Mumbai attacks that killed more than 160 people -- claimed responsibility for killing Mahadik.

Since 1989, India has fought groups such as the LeT in Jammu and Kashmir, a region shared in administration with Pakistan. Both countries have fought three major wars since the 1940s, two exclusively over the territory, and have since engaged in sporadic cross-border firing.

India has accused Pakistan of supporting the LeT and other groups, but the Pakistani government says such support is only moral and political in nature.