At least nine people including four Pakistani soldiers were killed in fighting in disputed Kashmir yesterday, India and Pakistan said.

The Pakistani army said four of its soldiers and three Indian troops had been killed in an exchange of fire across the heavily militarised de-facto border known as the Line of Control (LoC).

India denied it suffered any casualties, but said its soldiers had killed five "militants" who attempted to cross the LoC in a separate incident in Uri, 100 kilometers (62 miles) northwest of the main city of Srinagar.

India frequently accuses Pakistan of sending fighters across the LoC to launch attacks on its soldiers in Kashmir, which has been divided between the two nuclear-armed neighbours since partition in 1947.

"During the night a group of infiltrating militants were challenged by the army, triggering a fierce exchange of fire in which five militants were killed," superintendent of Indian police Imtiyaz Hussain told AFP.

Hussain said the militants appeared to be from Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), a Pakistan-based militant group that police say has recently stepped up its activities in the volatile territory.