NEW DELHI: India's security forces early Friday killed three insurgents in an exchange of gunfire on a highway in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

The encounter occurred early Friday after the police signaled a truck carrying the rebels to stop on the highway that links the Himalayan region's two main cities, Srinagar and Jammu, according to a police statement.

Security forces shut the highway and were combing the area for one insurgent they believe was hiding nearby.

The statement said one police officer was injured when the rebels fired at Indian security forces.

India accuses Pakistan of arming and training insurgents who have been fighting for Kashmir's independence from India or its merger with neighboring Pakistan since 1989.

Both India and Pakistan claim the Himalayan region, which is divided between the nuclear-armed rivals.

India and Pakistan have fought two wars over control of Kashmir since they won independence from British colonialists in 1947.