Three Indian army troopers were killed Friday by militants in Indian- controlled Kashmir, police said.

The troopers were ambushed in the morning at village Buchoo Bala of Tral in district Pulwama, around 40 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir. "Militants this morning fired upon a party of Indian army at village Buchoo here and killed three troopers," said Tariq Ahmad,a police officer posted in Tral. "There were reports that militants are present in the area."

Following the attack contingents of police, army and paramilitary cordoned the area and launched a search operation to trace the militants. "Militants are now hiding in the forest area and they are being engaged in a gunfight by the government forces," Ahmad said.

Locals said an exchange of fire is going on between two sides in the area.

Unconfirmed reports said militants snatched the rifles of slain army troopers prior to fleeing towards the forest area.

The killing of troopers came a day after a top Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) commander was killed in Srinagar city during a brief gunfight. The gunfight between militants and Indian army troopers in Indian-controlled Kashmir takes place intermittently. A guerrilla war is going on between militants and the Indian troops stationed in Indian-controlled Kashmir since 1989.