Seven dead in Indian Kashmir attack

"Five of our CRPF jawans (officers of the Central Reserve Police Force) were martyred," a senior officer told reporters at the scene in the Bemina area of Srinagar which is home to a camp for security forces and a police-run school.

"We have neutralised two militants," he added.

Another six to seven police were injured in the attack which was carried out on an open field where 25 officers were on duty and children were playing cricket, police said.

Another police officer, speaking to AFP, had put the death toll at six, including four colleagues and two militants.

Indian Kashmir, where a 20-year separatist insurgency has waned in recent years, has been tense since the execution in February of a local man over a deadly 2001 attack on the national parliament in New Delhi.

Mohammed Afzal Guru, a local separatist, was convicted over the attack, but he retained widespread support in Kashmir where many doubted his guilt.

Attacks in Srinagar have become rare in recent years, with the last major incident in October when gunmen attacked a popular hotel, killing a bellboy and leaving at least two other people injured.