A soldier and 13 militants were killed in the fighting, the longest battle in recent years, and Indian forces said they had begun mop up operations after the firing stopped on Thursday.

"The operation is being conducted in inhospitable, harsh and treacherous terrain at an altitude up to 15,000 ft (4572 metres)," an army statement said.

The gunbattle began last Thursday in the Kagnan area, north of Srinagar.

The army said that militants have been retreating to the Himalayan plains due to the early onset of cold weather in the mountains and clashes between Indian soldiers and militants fleeing their hideouts have intensified.

In a separate incident on Friday, security forces shot dead two members of Lashkar-e-Toiba, a Pakistan-based militant group believed to be responsible for deadly attacks in Kashmir and elsewhere in the country.