Scattered rain on Sunday brought much-needed but only temporary relief to parts of India hit by a long heatwave as the death toll from the blistering temperatures crossed 2,200, officials said.

Thunderstorms struck sections of southern states of Andhra Pradesh and Telangana, which have borne the brunt of the deadliest heatwave in more than two decades, as well as the capital New Delhi.

India's brutal weeks-long heatwave has killed more than 2,000 people, authorities said Saturday, as the government launched a mass education campaign to help people cope with scorching temperatures. 

Hundreds of mainly poor people die at the height of summer every year in India, but this year's toll is the second highest in India's history and fifth most in recorded history globally, according to EM-DAT, an international disaster database.

Indian authorities urged hospitals to treat heatstroke as an emergency as the toll from a long heatwave topped 1,800 on Friday, making it the deadliest in more than two decades.

Hundreds of mainly poor people die at the height of summer every year in India, but this year's figures are already nearly double the annual average.

Pakistan on Thursday executed three Baluch separatists convicted of hijacking a plane in 1998, which they attempted to fly to India to disrupt Islamabad's first nuclear tests, officials said.

The executions were carried out on the 17th anniversary of the tests, which made Pakistan the world's seventh nuclear-armed power -- a landmark event for the impoverished Muslim country of 200 million people.

Hospitals in India were struggling Thursday to cope with an influx of victims of a blistering heatwave that has claimed nearly 1,500 lives in just over a week.

Hundreds of people -- mainly from the poorest sections of society -- die at the height of summer every year in India, but this year's figures are unusually high.

Suspected militants in Indian Kashmir have shot and killed a man for failing to shut down a state-run telecoms tower on his land, police said Wednesday.

Militants had ordered a shut-down of transmission towers belonging to the Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited (BSNL) telecoms operator after police found illegal communication devices installed on them.

More than 1,100 people have died in a blistering heatwave sweeping India, authorities said Wednesday, as forecasters warned searing temperatures would continue.

Southern India has borne the brunt of the hot, dry conditions and many of the victims are construction workers, elderly or homeless people unable to heed official advice to stay indoors.

At least 800 people have died in a major heatwave that has swept across India, melting roads in New Delhi as temperatures neared 50 degrees Celsius (122 Fahrenheit).

Hospitals were on alert to treat victims of heatstroke and authorities advised people to stay indoors, with no end in sight to the searing conditions.

Four soldiers were killed on Monday in two separate battles with suspected militants in Indian Kashmir, officials said, shortly after a mobile phone shop employee was left dead in another attack in the disputed region.

A military spokesman said two soldiers were killed in a firefight when suspected militants were found trying to cross from Pakistan into Tangdhar in India, 180 kilometers (110 miles) from the region's main city of Srinagar.

More than 430 people have died in two Indian states from a days-long heatwave that has seen temperatures nudging 50 degrees Celsius (122 degrees Fahrenheit), officials said Monday.

Officials warned the toll was almost certain to rise, with figures still being collected in some parts of the hard-hit Telangana state in the south of the country, and with no end in sight to the searing conditions.