An army non-commissioned officer was killed and three jawans were injured when militants attacked an army patrol party in Poonch district of Jammu and Kashmir on Thursday afternoon, officials said.

The patrol was moving towards a militant hideout in Radhahardi forest area when militants, positioned on the mountain peaks, fired and burst grenades on the party at around 1300 hrs, the sources said.

In a separate incident on Wednesday night, militants shot dead a couple and their three-year-old daughter in Kupwara district in north Kashmir.

The gunmen barged into the house of one Mohammad Yousuf Sheikh and fired indiscriminately at the inmates in Dollipora village late on Wednesday night.

Sheikh, his wife Rafeeqa and daughter Asma Yousuf were killed on the spot, the sources said.

Security forces have launched a search for the militants.

PTI