SRINAGAR, India, Dec 9 (Reuters) - A senior member of a Pakistan-based militant group, an Indian soldier and a villager were killed on Saturday in a fierce gun battle in a remote hamlet in Kashmir, police said.

The firefight took place after soldiers stormed a militant hideout in the Mendhar area of Poonch district, south of Srinagar, Kashmir's summer capital.

"Abu Sohail, district commander of Lashkar-e-Taiba, was killed and a jawan (soldier) and a civilian were also killed in the encounter," S.P. Vaid, inspector general of police, said.

Lashkar-e-Taiba, which Indian security agencies say is made up mostly of militants from Pakistan and its part of Kashmir, was banned by Islamabad in 2002.

Authorities say violence involving militants and security forces has declined in Kashmir since India and Pakistan started a peace process in 2004.

But clashes between the two have increased in recent days.

In the past 24 hours soldiers and policemen shot dead five fighters in separate gun battles across the Himalayan region.

Tens of thousands of people have been killed in 17 years of revolt in Kashmir, which India and Pakistan claim in full and have fought two wars over.

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