SRINAGAR: An Indian soldier was killed in a clash in occupied Kashmir`s Sunderbani district, along the Line of Control, on Friday night.

A spokesperson for the Indian army said on X troops `challenged Kashmiri fighters` near a military base, sparking retaliatory gunfire in which one soldier died.

Three Kashmiri fighters ected rebels and a soldier were killed in separate firefights near Indianadministered Kashmir`s unofficial frontier with Pakistan, the Indian army said on Saturday.

The army said soldiers killed three fighters in a clash that began on Wednesday in a remoteforest in Kishtwar, in the south of the Indiaoccupied territory.

Weapons and `war-like stores` were recovered from the site, the army claimed on X.

India has an estimated 500,000 soldiers permanently deployed in occupied Kashmir.

Four policemen were killed last month in a clash that also wounded several police officers.

Thousands of additional Indian troops, including special forces, were deployed across southern mountainous areas of the India-held state last year following a series of deadly attacks that killed more than 50 soldiers over three years.-AFP