India said on Monday it would withdraw 15,000 troops from the restive state of Jammu and Kashmir, in a move seen as bolstering a slow-moving peace process with Pakistan.

A government official, who declined to be named, said the troop withdrawal would take place in phases, but gave no more details.
An estimated half a million soldiers are based in the Himalayan state, many of them fighting Kashmiri Muslim fighters opposed to New Delhi's rule there.

New Delhi had earlier rejected proposals made by Pakistani President Pervez Musharraf to demilitarise three Indian Kashmir cities in an attempt to push talks over the disputed Himalayan region forward.

While the two countries have strengthened transport, cultural and sporting links since starting the peace process two years ago, they have made little headway on tackling the dispute over Kashmir, the cause of two of their three wars since independence from British rule in 1947.

Indian officials say violence has declined in Kashmir since the peace process began. But they have also been urging Islamabad to do more to fully stop the flow of armed groups from Pakistan into Indian Kashmir.

Islamabad denies the charge and has instead asked New Delhi to begin talks to resolve the territory's future.

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