An avalanche on the high-altitude Siachen Glacier killed at least six Indian soldiers on Sunday when their outpost was swept away before dawn. Thousands of soldiers from Pakistan and India endure bitter conditions on the glacier, which is dubbed "The world's highest battleground", due to the long-running territorial dispute.

An estimated 8,000 troops have died since 1984, almost all of them from avalanches, landslides, frostbite, altitude sickness or heart failure rather than combat. "The avalanche struck a forward post early on Sunday morning, burying seven soldiers," Indian army spokesman Lieutenant Colonel J S Brar told.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2012