Srinagar, India - Two militants were killed by security forces in India's northern Jammu and Kashmir state on Sunday after a 10-hour gunbattle that left five others, including a soldier, dead, police sources said. A group of militants entered the house of a local politician Hoshiar Singh in Kali Mandi village in Samba sector, about 45 kilometres south of the state winter capital Jammu, and killed Singh and his wife Sashibala, police said. The couple's daughter and Singh's mother-in-law were injured in the attack.
The villagers alerted security forces stationed nearby, who engaged the militants in a gun battle. A Jammu-based photojournalist Ashok Sodhi and one soldier died of gunshots wounds.
The militants took shelter in another house in the village and the exchange of fire continued, the sources said.
Five people, including women and children, were trapped inside the house. In the afternoon, the militants killed one of the women and threw her body out of the house, IANS news agency reported. The other hostages were rescued after which the security forces launched an intensive attack and killed the militants.
"The encounter at Samba has ended. The area is now being combed and sanitized in case the militants, who were heavily armed, planted any booby traps," a senior police official Rajinder Singh said.
A total of 12 people including 10 security forces personnel, were injured. They are being treated at a hospital in Jammu town.
Senior Jammu police official K Rajendra said the militants may be part of a group of men that crossed into the sector Thursday night from Pakistan.
India's Border Security Force claimed it foiled an infiltration bid by Pakistan-based militants on Thursday and a dozen militants had retreated after firing several rounds and hurling grenades.
But some groups of militants may have already positioned themselves in the area with plans to attack pilgrims to the holy Hindu shrine of Amarnath, police sources said. Security forces also recovered a large cache of arms and ammunition in the area on Saturday.
The route to the cave shrine in the high Himalayas passes through the Samba sector. The first group of pilgrims is scheduled to leave on June 18. The pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave is held for a short period of about two months every year in June-July.
There have been militant attacks on the pilgrims in the past. At least 32 pilgrims were killed in a militant attack in 2000. The authorities routinely make elaborate arrangements for the security of the ritual.
Kashmir has been at the root of tense relations between the South Asian neighbours since their independence from British rule in 1947. India and Pakistan have fought two of their three wars over Kashmir, which is currently divided into two regions, one administered by India and the other by Pakistan.
An estimated 40,000 people between civilians, militants and security forces have been killed in political violence in India- administered Kashmir since 1990.
India accuses Pakistan of aiding and abetting Kashmiri secessionist militants. Pakistan denies the allegations, saying the Kashmiri militants are local freedom fighters.
The latest incident in Sambha came ahead of Indian Foreign Minister Pranab Mukherjee's visit to Islamabad scheduled later this month for a review of a four-year-old peace dialogue between the neighbours to negotiate contentious issues including the dispute over Kashmir.
