SRINAGAR, India, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A gun battle between security forces and two separatist guerrillas holed up overnight in a village mosque in Indian Kashmir ended on Sunday when soldiers shot them both dead, police said. Troops laid siege to the mosque in the Tujan area of western Kashmir on Saturday evening after militants took shelter there. "The intermittent exchange of fire continued throughout the night," a police official said. The violence comes as Muslim-majority Kashmir observes the fasting month of Ramadan. Separatist militants fighting New Delhi's rule in Kashmir have in the past sought refuge in mosques and other shrines. Most of the sieges have ended in bloodshed. More than 42,000 people have been killed since an anti-India revolt began in the Himalayan region in 1989, officials say. Human rights groups put the toll at about 60,000 dead or missing. Violence has declined in Kashmir since India and Pakistan, who fought two of their three wars over the region, began a peace process in 2004.
