An army jawan was killed and three others were injured in an overnight gunbattle with militants in Tangdhar sector near the Line of Control (LoC) in Jammu & Kashmir's Kupwara district.

"A soldier was killed and three others were injured in a gunfight near the LoC in Tangdhar area," a defence spokesman told IANS. "The gunbattle which started yesterday (Saturday) and is still underway," he said.

The slain soldier, identified as Bashir Ahmad, was the first one to notice intuders on the Indian side of the LoC on 8 August. The militants fired at him and he died because of his injuries.

Police said a group of five to six heavily armed militants were challenged on the Indian side of the LoC on Saturday after they had managed to sneak across from the Pakistani side.

Additional deployments of elite para commandos have been rushed to the site.