Photo taken on Jan. 7, 2005 shows the income tax building on fire during a clash between militants and the Indian security troop in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir.(Xinhua Photo/Farooq) Indian security troops stand off with militants in the income tax building on fire during an attack launched by the militants on the building in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir. (Xinhua Photo/Farooq) An injured Indian security man is carried to a safe place during a clash between militants and the Indian security troop in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir. Militants attacked the income tax building in Srinagar on Jan. 7. (Xinhua Photo/Farooq) Indian security troops stand off with militants in the income tax building during an attack launched by the militants on the building in Srinagar, Indian-controlled Kashmir.  (Xinhua Photo/Farooq)

    NEW DELHI, Jan. 7 (Xinhuanet) -- Carrying out a suicide attack, militants stormed Friday the income tax office in Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir and engaged security men in a fierce gun battle in which a trooper was killed.

    "The three-story building was on fire and many people were feared to be trapped inside," the Press Trust of India quoted local official sources as saying.

    Hurling grenades and firing indiscriminately, the militants whose number was not known, stormed the building in Barbarshah locality around 3:45 p.m. killing a trooper on the spot, the sources said.

    The exchange of fire between the ultras and the security forces was still on, they said.

    No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the attack.

    Militant separatists have been fighting Indian rule in Kashmir since 1989.

    More than 40,000 persons have been killed since then.

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