All 20 people on board a military helicopter were killed when it crashed in flood devastated northern Indian, the country's air force chief said on Wednesday.

The helicopter carrying soldiers, police and rescue workers crashed on Tuesday afternoon during a rescue mission in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand where flash floods and landslides have killed some 1,000 people.

A helicopter helping victims of devastating floods in northern India crashed near a pilgrimage site Tuesday, killing all eight people on board, as fresh rains hampered the bid to rescue thousands still stranded.

Around 60 air force helicopters are taking part in the rescue operation in the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand where more than 1,000 people have been killed by floods and landslides since the beginning of last week.

Militants opened fire on a military convoy in Indian Kashmir Monday, killing four soldiers and wounding six others in an attack on the eve of a visit by Prime Minister Manmohan Singh, the army said.

The soldiers were attacked on the outskirts of Srinagar, the main city in Indian-controlled Kashmir, army spokesman Colonel Brijesh Pandey told AFP.

Around 1,000 people have been killed in flash floods and landslides in northern India, as heavy rains halted the search on Monday for thousands of tourists still stranded in the devastated Himalayan regions, officials said.

Indian priests were preparing to cremate hundreds of victims of the disaster even as 8,000 mainly pilgrims and tourists were still awaiting rescue nine days after flash floods and landslides hit the state of Uttarakhand.

U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry on Sunday urged a greater role for India on Afghanistan and climate change as he sought to revive stuttering cooperation between the world's two largest democracies.

On his first visit to India as the top U.S. diplomat, Kerry tried a few words in Hindi, pressed his hands in a traditional namaste greeting and quoted Mark Twain who said the diverse land was the sole country all people want to see.

Bad weather hampered rescue operations Sunday in northern India where up to 1,000 people are feared to have died in landslides and flash floods that have left pilgrims and tourists stranded without food or water for days.

So far 557 bodies have been found after torrential rains struck the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand on June 15, flooding the Ganges river and devastating the region known as the "Land of the Gods" for its revered Hindu shrines.

Britain is planning to force visitors from India, Pakistan, Nigeria and other countries whose nationals are deemed to pose a "high risk" of immigration abuse to provide a cash bond before they can enter the country, a report said Sunday.

The Sunday Times newspaper said that from November, a pilot scheme would target visitors from those three countries plus Bangladesh, Sri Lanka and Ghana.

Two Indian policemen were shot dead Saturday by suspected militants in a high security area of Srinagar, the summer capital of Indian Kashmir, police said.

The policemen were shot from point blank range when they were on a regular patrol near the main court complex located in a busy commercial district of Srinagar, a senior police official said.

A four-story building collapsed in Mumbai Saturday, killing five people in the second such incident in as many days and underlining shoddy construction practices in the financial capital of the country.

The dilapidated building, located in a busy market area in suburban Dahisar, was vacated two years ago but local vegetable vendors continued to use it as a night shelter, officials said.

Relief teams were racing against time Saturday to rescue tens of thousands of stranded people in rain-ravaged northern India as the death toll from flash floods and landslides neared 600.

Rescuers have recovered scores of bodies from the swollen Ganges river with nearly 63,000 people, mainly pilgrims and tourists, still stranded or missing after torrential monsoon rains struck the Himalayan state of Uttarakhand, officials said.