Indian Kashmir rocked by 'militant attacks'

India has thousands of troops ranged along the Kashmir Line of Control

SRINAGAR, Kashmir (CNN) -- Authorities in Indian controlled Kashmir say at least two members of India's security forces and two militants have been killed in a fierce gun battle.

The clash took place Saturday in the village of Sofshalli Kokernag village in the south of India's Jammu and Kashmir state.

The exchange followed a grenade attack near the city of Srinagar Friday in which more than a dozen people, mainly civilians, were wounded.

Authorities say they suspect separatist Muslim militants -- whom India says are backed by Pakistan -- were behind the attack.

Earlier that same day police say eight civilians and six members of the paramilitary forces were injured in a militant grenade attack near the southern town of Kakpora.

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Earlier this week India's new defense minister cited evidence that infiltration from Pakistani-administered Kashmir had increased recently.

Yaswant Sinha said the number of incursions was on the rise again despite Pakistani pledges aimed at cooling tensions between the two nuclear-armed rivals.

New Delhi accuses Pakistan of providing funding and training to militants it accuses of carrying out a series of attacks against Indian targets, including a daring raid on the Indian parliament last December.

Pakistan denies the Indian charges saying that it only gives moral support to groups fighting what it calls a "freedom struggle" in the disputed Muslim majority region of Kashmir.

The row sparked a tense military stand-off between the two countries, who between them massed around a million troops along their shared border and the so-called Line of Control that divides Kashmir between them.

Prior to Musharraf's statement in May, diplomats feared the dispute could erupt into a potentially devastating war involving the use of nuclear weapons.

In the subsequent weeks however tensions have cooled markedly following a flurry of international diplomatic visits, although the regular exchanges of fire between Indian and Pakistani troops across the Line of Control have continued.