India-Kashmir-Militants Strike
Heavily armed militants shot dead a couple, including a local political leader, and fought a pitched battle with security forces in which a news photographer was killed in Samba district of Jammu Sunday morning.

The militants, believed to belong to a group which managed to sneak into the Indian side during a gun battle in Samba sector on Friday last, attacked the family living in Kali Mandi forest belt in the district around 07:50 hours, official media reported here.

The militants opened heavy fire on the inhabitants of the house.

While Hoshiyar Singh, the president of the newly constituted Indian National Democratic Party, and his wife Sheshi Balla died on the spot, their two daughters - Bindu and Darshan Devi were seriously injured.

Local units of army and Border Security Force (BSF) rushed to the spot and cordoned off the area.

A fierce gunbattle soon ensued between the fleeing militants and security forces in the area, they said, adding the encounter was still on.

A photographer of a local English daily 'Daily Excelsior,' Ashok Sodhi, who was covering the encounter, died when a bullet pierced his head.

The intercepts after the Friday's gunbattle at Baingallar BOP along IB indicated that a group of ten militants had crossed the Samba border and were hiding in the forest areas of Samba and Mansar areas.

The BSF on Thursday night had foiled an infiltration bid along the International Border in Samba sector. An ambush party of BSF had detected a group of 10 to 15 militants trying to sneak into Benglard area of Samba sector around 22:30 hrs. BSF personnel had to engage in a gun battle with the intruders before forcing them back to the other side of the border.

Today's militant attack is the first since 2002 in the plains of Jammu.