Kashmir mosque siege ends

Soldiers guard a mosque in October after a shootout that left one militant dead

SRINAGAR, India -- A siege between Indian troops and two militants holed up in a mosque in Kashmir has ended after one of the gunmen was killed and the other surrendered.

Soldiers and paramilitary forces had surrounded the mosque in Bamrada village in Kunzar, 40 kilometers (25 miles) north of Srinagar during the tense stand-off.

"One militant was killed and another surrendered after he was injured in the shootout. There was no damage to the mosque," an army spokesman told Reuters news agency.

Officials said that athough the gunbattle had ended, troops were searching for a possible third militant believed hiding in the village.

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A police official told Reuters that the militants were members of Hizbul Mujahideen, one of Kashmir's frontline militant groups.

More than a dozen Islamic militant groups, including Hizbul Mujahideen, are fighting for an independent state in Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan.

It was the sixth time in the past 12 months that guerillas had sought refuge in mosques during encounters with security forces.

Although India has vowed to hunt down and fight insurgent militants, mosque battles pose a problem to authorities careful to try and avoid inciting religious passions in the Muslim-majority state.

Indian officials have appealed to the public in the Muslim-majority state to refrain from allowing guerillas shelter in mosques.

After several similar incidents, authorities in Kashmir promised to "eliminate" militants that used mosques as a place of refuge during battles with security forces.

Last year, six militants were killed in June, ending a 36-hour mosque siege that also left one Indian commando dead.

A month earlier, three Muslim militants were allowed to escape after barricading themselves in a mosque. Authorities chose to withdraw a security cordon instead of launching an assault.

India accuses Pakistan of providing military and financial support to the militants and has called on Islamabad to crackdown on such groups in the wake of the December 13 suicide raid on Indian parliament.