7 rebels killed in fresh Kashmir gunbattles

"The seven were killed during separate operations in Doda, Baramulla and Kupwara districts during Friday night," a police spokesman said.

Doda is situated south of summer capital Srinagar, while Baramulla and Kupwara are in the north and border Pakistan-administered Kashmir.

Police said one of the slain rebels was functioning as "sectional commander" of the region's most powerful group Hizbul Mujahedin.

"Three of the militants killed in Baramulla district were believed to have infiltrated into our (Indian) side from the Pakistani side a few days back," an army spokesman said.

Kashmir is in the grip of a 17-year Islamic separatist insurgency that has left more than 44,000 people dead by the official count.

Meanwhile, an Indian soldier shot dead three colleagues at a security camp in troubled Kashmir after an argument before attempting to kill himself, an army spokesman said on Saturday.

The shooting, the latest in a string of such incidents in the strife-torn region, took place on Friday night in Rajouri district, southwest of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital.