GUNMEN staged a cross-border attack on an Indian military camp in Kashmir, leaving a civilian and three militants dead, police said yesterday.

The fighting began after a group of heavily armed militants entered the Indian part of Kashmir from the Pakistani side, said senior police officer Garib Das.

They were spotted near an army camp in the Tangdhar region early on Sunday. The intermittent gun battle began after the militants were challenged by the soldiers, Mr Das said.

An army officer said that fighting had continued until early yesterday. It was not clear how the civilian who died had been caught in the ceasefire.

Three Indian soldiers and a militant were killed in a gun battle in the same area last week.

More than 68,000 people have lost their lives in the armed conflict that began in 1989.

Pakistan supports the cause of the militants in Indian Kashmir but denies giving them material aid.