Srinagar, India: India said three of its soldiers were killed Tuesday on the de facto border in disputed Kashmir and blamed Pakistani troops.

The body of one of the dead soldiers had been ‘mutilated’, the army said in a tweet, threatening ‘retribution’.

One army official said the Pakistani soldiers had crossed over the Line of Control that divides Kashmir to launch an attack.

‘This border action was like a sneak attack by Pakistan soldiers,’ he told AFP on condition of anonymity.

Indian media reports said one of the soldiers had been beheaded, although this could not be confirmed.

There was no immediate comment from Pakistan, which last week accused India of killing seven of its soldiers in cross-border fire in Kashmir.

Tensions between the nuclear-armed neighbours have been running high since a September attack on an Indian base in Kashmir which killed 19 soldiers and which New Delhi blames on Pakistan-based militants.

Since then there have been repeated outbreaks of cross-border firing in Kashmir, with both sides reporting deaths and injuries including of civilians.

Kashmir has been divided between India and Pakistan since the end of British colonial rule in 1947.

Both countries claim the Himalayan territory in full and they have fought two wars over it.

Several rebel groups have for decades fought Indian soldiers for independence for the region or its merger with Pakistan. The conflict has killed tens of thousands of people, mostly civilians.