At least four people are believed to have died in a gunfight after militants stormed an Indian police station in the Kathua area of Jammu and Kashmir, on Friday morning, police told BuzzFeed News.
A senior police officer at the Distt. Police Office, Kathua told BuzzFeed News that one officer, two members of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and a civilian died after at least two attackers stormed the station. At least another seven officers were injured.
The Associated Press reported that the attack led to a four-hour gun battle. The area was cordoned off by Indian army and paramilitary soldiers, and traffic on the nearby highway connecting Jammu to the rest of India was suspended.
Police also told AP that two dozen officers had been rescued from the station by Indian forces. The militants hijacked a car, drove it into the building and forced bystanders to enter the police station in order to gain access, Inspector-General Danish Rana said.
Rana said it was "most likely" that the militants had come from the Pakistani side of the disputed territory. The police station is located 16 km from the international border between the two countries.
No-one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but there are a number of anti-India groups fighting for either Kashmiri independence, or a merger with Pakistan.