Sporadic clashes in Kashmir

Indian soldiers fire a 105mm field gun at Pakistani positions near the Line of Control north of Mendhar, India

JAMMU, Indian-controlled Kashmir (CNN) -- Seventeen people have died in sporadic violence in the disputed region of Kashmir over the weekend.

The clashes come just days after U.S. Defense Secretary Donald Rumsfeld wrapped up a visit to India and Pakistan aimed at reducing heightened tensions between the two nuclear neighbors.

In the Kashmir valley area, two civilians and three Islamic militants were killed Sunday during a shoot-out between militants and Indian security forces in Badgam district, police said.

The militants were holed up inside a house in the village of Gauherpora and the forces surrounded the house. Six others were injured in the incident.

Indian police sources said Islamic militants attacked a village in Jammu Sunday morning, killing five people, including three young girls.

The attack took place in the village of Badhar in the Udhampur district, about 200 kilometers from Jammu.

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A suspected police informer was beheaded by Islamic militants Sunday in the town of Boniyal, police said. In a separate incident Sunday, suspected militants gunned down a civilian in Kadi Kupwara, police said.

Islamic militants opened fire on a joint patrol of Indian police and border security forces, injuring four of the patrol members in the Pulwama district, police said.

Overnight Saturday, three Muslims were killed in the Doda district. Police said it was not clear how they were killed, although local villagers said they were targeted by Hindus. The men all worked for the state government.

Saturday afternoon, Islamic militants attacked a group of Hindu pilgrims returning to their village in Doda, killing two children, state police officials said.

Rumsfeld suggested one way to continue to ease tensions would be for both sides to agree that troops along the Line of Control, which separates Indian and Pakistani regions of Kashmir, would only fire in self-defense.

Such a policy would limit civilian casualties and "begin a process of easing some of the lingering hostilities."

But his call has had little impact on the hostilities. (Maps and military)

There are still nearly one million troops massed on the borders between India and Pakistan and despite some conciliatory moves tensions remain high.

India has blamed a series of militant attacks, including a dramatic raid on the Indian parliament in New Delhi last December, on Kashmiri separatist groups it says operate from Pakistani-controlled territory with backing from Islamabad.

Pakistan has rejected the charges, saying it only gives moral support to groups fighting what it calls a "liberation struggle" for the Kashmiri people.

The row has led to a dramatic increase in tensions between the two nuclear powers, between them deploying around a million troops along their shared border and the Line of Control.

Amid such a tense stand-off diplomats have expressed fears that another militant attack could spark a catastrophic war.