Suspected militants stormed a paramilitary camp in Indian-held Kashmir early Sunday leaving eight dead, police and security forces said, capping off the deadliest year in a decade for the disputed territory. Armed militants lobbed grenades and fired automatic rifles to enter the camp of India's Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) outside the main city of held Srinagar, triggering a fierce exchange of fire as hundreds of soldiers and special counterinsurgency police surrounded the area.

"Four CRPF soldiers died in the attack. We killed three militants, the body of one them is yet to be retrieved," inspector general of police, Munir Ahmed Khan told AFP. A spokesman for the paramilitary force, Rajesh Yadav earlier said another trooper died of cardiac arrest during the initial assault.

Three paramilitary troopers were wounded, Yadav said. It was unclear how many personnel were inside the camp during the attack, which comes just days after Indian forces killed a top leader of Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) in a shootout nearby. Local media reports quoted a spokesperson for the group claiming responsibility for Sunday's pre-dawn incident.

Copyright Agence France-Presse, 2018