SRINAGAR, India, July 26 (Reuters) - Two suspected separatist militants were shot dead in Indian Kashmir on Thursday when they tried to storm a security camp on the outskirts of the disputed region's main city, police said. Four policemen were wounded in the apparent suicide attack -- the first this year -- which took place near Zakura, a residential area on the outskirts of Srinagar, the summer capital of the state, they said. "Two fidayeen lobbed grenades, opened fire with automatic weapons and tried to enter the CRPF camp," said Manhas Ranjan, a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) spokesman, referring to the suicide attackers. "Both of them were eliminated before they could inflict damage." No militant group has admitted responsibility. But S.M. Sahai, a top Kashmir police officer, blamed the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba for the "failed suicide attack". Elsewhere, two militants, a policeman and a teenage boy were killed in Baramulla district in northern Kashmir in a 24-hour gun battle which ended on Wednesday, police said. There has been an increase in violence in the Himalayan region with the onset of summer, when it becomes easier for militants to move about and to cross through the mountain passes from the Pakistani side. However, Indian authorities say overall violence levels have declined significantly since India and Pakistan, who claim the region in full and rule it in parts, launched fresh peace talks in 2004 to resolve their dispute over it. Officials say more than 42,000 people have been killed in Kashmir since a revolt against Indian rule erupted in 1989. But human rights groups put the toll at about 60,000.
