At least five terrorists were killed in a gunfight with the Indian Army on the Line of Control (LoC) after an infiltration attempt from across the de facto border with Pakistan was foiled early yesterday, officials said.

The operation was launched in north Kashmir border area of Tanghdar. "Five terrorists killed while attempting to infiltrate early morning today," a defence spokesperson said.

Officials said more militants could be involved as the operation was still on.

This is the first infiltration bid to be foiled near the line of control (LoC) with Pakistan since the Union government declared a unilateral ceasefire in view of Ramzan recently. Although Army personnel had spotted a few militants near the LoC two days ago, the potential infiltrators fled back after a brief exchange of fire.

Army has not ruled out the possibility of more infiltration attempts in the coming days, especially since snow in the upper ridges of north Kashmir has started melting, reported Hindustan Times Online.

On Wednesday, a mortar and gunfire battle between Indian and Pakistani forces along their Kashmir frontier killed five civilians, taking the death toll in the six-day confrontation to 16, officials said.

At least 80,000 people from dozens of villages along the 200- kilometre (125-mile) long border between the Jammu region in Indian-administered Kashmir and Pakistan's Punjab province have fled their homes since May 18, an Indian government official said.

Indian authorities have closed all schools within five kilometres of the border and government forces used armoured vehicles to evacuate panicked residents who left behind homes and cattle, reported AFP.

On Tuesday an Indian soldier and an eight-month-old baby were killed. Another nine people died on the first day of hostilities on both sides of the border, just before a visit to Kashmir by India's Prime Minister Narendra Modi.

The border where the clashes broke out is not disputed between the two nations, even though both lay claim to all of Kashmir.

The Himalayan territory has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947.

Pakistan Rangers and Indian Border Security Force officers spoke by telephone on Monday. The rival militaries often accuse each other of initiating battles in violation of a 2003 border ceasefire.