NEWSLINKS
US EDITION
COLUMNISTS
DIARY
SPECIALS
INTERVIEWS
CAPITAL BUZZ
REDIFF POLL
DEAR REDIFF
THE STATES
YEH HAI INDIA!
ELECTION 99
ELECTIONS
ARCHIVES

Search Rediff

J&K militants kill 3 women and a child

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

Militants gunned down three women and a child of two Hindu families at Village Harai Argi in Mendhar tehsil of Poonch district in Jammu region last night.

One person critically wounded in the attack was shifted to hospital.

Police sources said a group of heavily armed men came to the village, under the jurisdiction of Gursai police station, forced entry into two houses of Hindu villagers, and began firing with automatic weapons, killing three women, Pushplata, Anju and Madhubala, and a child, Mukesh, on the spot.

Three male members of the family were reported missing after the incident, but police denied it.

This morning Inspector General of Police (operations) P S Gill rushed to the village with deputy commissioner and other senior police officers of Poonch district. A search has been launched.

In the state assembly in Jammu, members of the opposition Bharatiya Janata Party, Congress and Bahujan Samaj Party staged a walkout today in protest against the killings. BJP legislator Shiv Charan Gupta told reporters that the killings "are part of the militant plan to force the migration of minority community members from the border district of Poonch".

Meanwhile, heavy fighting along the Line of Control was reported from Uri and other areas in north Kashmir. Pakistani artillery rained shells on various areas in the Uri sector. The Indian Army retaliated. No one was injured. But the shelling has triggered panic among the residents.

Only yesterday eight Indian soldiers were killed and three others wounded in a fierce Pakistani attack at Nowshera in the Jammu region.

Back to top

Tell us what you think of this report