Six policemen, including an officer, were killed when a motorcade of a Kashmiri member of the Indian parliament, Lal Singh, hit a landmine and then was fired on in southern Doda district, a police spokesman said.

Five policemen and civilians were injured in the attack by the rebels, who hid behind pine trees and boulders, the spokesman said, adding that the condition of two policemen was critical.

Police said four policemen died on the spot, while two of those injured died in hospital.

Singh, a member of India's ruling Congress party, was not injured. Local lawmaker G.M. Saroori, who accompanied him on the way to a public meeting, also escaped unharmed.

Police said troops were rushed to the area to find the rebels involved in the attack in Doda, one of the districts most hit by the insurgency.

Troops also gunned down three rebels minutes after they crossed the Line of Control (LoC), the de facto border with Pakistan in the northern Kupwara district, police said.

India accuses Pakistan of arming the rebels and demands a halt to alleged infiltration. Pakistan denies the charges.

India's defence minister Pranab Mukherjee on his maiden visit to Kashmir this week said the Indian troops had nearly completed the fencing of the LoC and that it would help reduce infiltration.

The two countries held talks last week in New Delhi that included rare discussion of their Kashmir dispute as part of a go-slow peace process.