Three soldiers and two Islamic militants died during two days of fighting in the central Kashmir district of Budgam in which the two sides exchanged automatic weapons fire.

"The fighting erupted Thursday evening when troops ringed a residential house on a tip-off that militants were hiding there," a police spokesman said.

Troops shot dead three other rebels during another gunbattle in the southern district of Rajouri, a police spokesman said.

Meanwhile, suspected Islamic militants killed overnight a member of Ikhwan -- a pro-India militant group formed by former separatist rebels -- and his 60-year-old mother in southern Anantnag district, police said.