SRINAGAR: Indian troops on Friday gunned down four suspected Islamic militants as they tried to enter the Indian zone of divided Kashmir from Pakistan, a military spokesman said.

Lieutenant Colonel J.S Brar said the four heavily-armed rebels were killed in a gun battle in Kashmir's Keran region, some 150 kilometres (90 miles) from summer capital Srinagar.

“An infiltration bid was foiled by the troops on the line of control by killing the four militants,” Brar said, referring to the heavily-militarised de facto border dividing the Indian and Pakistani zones of the Himalayan region.

Friday's killing followed an attack late last month by gunmen on a Srinagar hotel, after they aborted an attempt to ambush an Indian army convoy.

Separatist violence that has wrecked the tourism industry in the Muslim-majority region has been at its lowest ebb since the insurgency began in 1989.