SRINAGAR, India : Indian troops shot dead six Islamic militants on Saturday in the second major gunbattle within a week in revolt-hit Kashmir, police said.

Indian army spokesman lieutenant colonel Manjinder Singh called the deaths a "major setback" to insurgents fighting New Delhi's rule.

"The militants were killed during fierce fighting in the Tral area," Faisal Qayoom, senior district police officer, told AFP.

Violence has dropped sharply in Indian Kashmir since the launch of a peace process in January 2004, but Indian officials say militants are still trying to cross into the scenic Himalayan region to keep the insurgency going.

Tral, once considered a rural militant bastion, is located 40 kilometres (25 miles) south of summer capital Srinagar.

"Men from the army, police and paramilitary were involved in the fighting that started early in the morning on Saturday after troops ringed the area on a tip off," Qayoom said.

Last Sunday, two militants, two soldiers and four civilians, including a news photographer, were killed during a gunfight in Samba, south of Tral.

India's foreign minister is slated to visit Pakistan next week to review the slow-moving dialogue process started by the nuclear-armed rivals four years ago to resolve the future of disputed Kashmir and other issues.

On Wednesday, Indian military commanders lodged a protest with their Pakistani counterparts after soldiers came under fire from across the border for the second time in a week.

The two countries used to routinely exchange artillery and machine-gun fire until a November 2003 truce in the region.

Tens of thousands of people have died in insurgency-related violence since the revolt erupted in 1989. - AFP/ms