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JAMMU, India, Sept 19 (Reuters) - Five Indian soldiers were killed in a clash with Muslim guerrillas in India's Jammu and Kashmir where the government is conducting a tense state assembly election, police said on Thursday.

There was no word on guerrilla casualties in the battle in Rajouri district late on Wednesday.

"Search operations are going on now," a police officer said.

Three suspected rebels were killed elsewhere in overnight clashes with security forces who have been deployed in large numbers to supervise the vote in the state which is at the centre of a military standoff between India and Pakistan.

Rajouri district was one of the areas that voted in the first phase of the election on Monday. The next round of voting will be on Tuesday. The Indian government hopes the vote will boost the legitimacy of its rule in the Himalayan region.

Security forces also defused 20 kg (44 lb) of explosives in Doda district, which will be the last to vote on October 8, the police officer said.

More than 460 people have been killed since the elections were announced on August 2.

Guerrillas, battling Indian rule in the Muslim-majority region since 1989, have vowed to kill anyone involved in the election that separatist political groups say cannot be a substitute for a U.N.-mandated plebiscite to decide Kashmir's future. 

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