SRINAGAR (Reuters) - Three militants attacked an Indian army base in the disputed Kashmir region on Wednesday(Nov 25) and holed up in the officers mess as a gunbattle raged, a senior army officer said.

The attackers cut a perimeter fence and penetrated the battalion headquarters in Tangdhar in northern Kashmir, a Himalayan region at the heart of a longstanding dispute between India and Pakistan.

"We heard three blasts initially and a gun battle is on," said the army officer, who asked not to be identified because he is not authorised to speak on the record.

He said the attackers had taken up positions in the officers' mess and blown up a kerosene tank, wounding one person.

India accuses Pakistan of training and arming such rebels, and infiltrating them into the part of Muslim-majority Kashmir that it controls, a claim its neighbour denies.

The South Asian rivals fought two of their three wars since independence in 1947 over Muslim-majority Kashmir, which they both claim in full but rule in part.