SRINAGAR, Aug 12 (1999): Separatist guerrillas killed two marine commandos and a soldier in two separate incidents in the restive Kashmir on Thursday, an official said.

Defence spokesman Major P. Purushottam said a naval officer and a sailor were killed in a landmine set off by separatist guerrillas at Arigam village on the banks of Asia’s largest sweet water lake, Wullar.

Arigam lies about 40 km (25 miles) north of Srinagar, the state’s summer capital.

“Marine commandos, who are here to keep Wullar free from militants, were on foot patrol in the area when a mine exploded,” Purushottam said.

Earlier on Thursday one Indian soldier was killed and three wounded when separatist militants attacked a security patrol at Sogam village in Kupwara district, 87 km (54 miles) northwest of Srinagar, police said.

They said one person was killed and two wounded on Wednesday when suspected separatist guerrillas lobbed a grenade at a paramilitary patrol at Sopore, 48 km (30 miles) northwest of Srinagar.

The violence underscores tensions lingering in Kashmir after a two-month conflict in which Indian troops dislodged militants from strategic peaks on India’s side of the control line dividing the disputed Himalayan region with Pakistan.