Jammu, December 30
Four members of a family belonging to a particular community, including a woman, were killed when militants dragged them out of their houses and opened fire on them at Kanthol village in Rajouri district late last night.

According to the police, Laxmi Devi, Madan Lal, Jaspal and Moti Lal, were asleep when a group of militants barged into their house, dragged them out and started spraying bullets on them with their assault rifles.

Militants also set afire six residential houses and a government school at Mora Bhai village in Thanamandi area of the same district last night, the sources said.

An Army jawan was killed and five others were injured in two landmine blasts near the Line of Control (LoC) in the Jammu region since last Saturday night, official sources said here on Sunday.

A jawan was blown up when he stepped over a landmine during an exercise near the LoC in Seri Khaja area of Poonch sector early today. Two of his colleagues were injured.

In another incident, three jawans were injured in a landmine blast near the LoC in Arnia area in the Jammu sector on Saturday night.

The injured had been hospitalised.

Meanwhile, the troops averted two major tragedies in Jammu and Kashmir after they recovered three powerful IEDs from the Jammu-Srinagar highway and Rajouri road, official sources here on Sunday.

The troops detected some object in a mud road portion of the Jammu-Srinagar highway at the Tringle-Batote area.

They stopped the convoy of the Army personnel on its way to Jammu from Srinagar and later found a powerful IED planted by militants to blow up the convoy.

The device was later defused, the sources said.

Similarly, the troops also detected two powerful IEDs on the Rajouri road at Palma on Saturday night and later defused them.

SRINAGAR: A Major was injured and a jawan and a militant were killed in a fierce clash, which took place after an Army convoy was attacked on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway today while elsewhere in the valley 3 militants were killed and 6 others nabbed in the valley overnight.

The militants attacked the convoy, on way to Jammu from Srinagar, near the Sangam bridge, with automatic weapons and grenades, official sources said.

The troops and road opening party retaliated. However, no one was injured. Later, security forces cordoned off the area to nab the militants.

Sources said when the troops were engaged in sealing the area militants fired upon them. Troops retaliated and in the clash, which was still going on when the reports last came in, one militant was killed.

Taking responsibility for the incident, a spokesman for the Jamait-ul-Mujahideen said the Harkati-Jehad-Islami and Al-Badr militants were a part of the joint operation against the security forces.