Samba (Jammu and Kashmir): Five people were killed, including a photojournalist, and four others injured when militants struck in Jammu's Samba sector early on Sunday. An intense gun battle is on between the militants and the security forces in the area.

The militant attack in Jammu plains is the first since 2002. According to the police, militants entered the house of Hoshiar Singh in Kali Mandi in Samba, 45 km from Jammu, and opened fire, killing him and his wife Shashi Bala. Their daughter Bindu and Singh's mother-in-law were injured in the shootout.

Police and Army units, alerted by villagers, ran towards the area and engaged the militants in a gun battle. A soldier and a photojournalist, Ashok Sodhi, also died in the exchange of fire. Two other are also said to be injured.

The militants, after being chased by security personnel, hid in a house belonging to Suresh Singh. Meanwhile, the woman, who was trapped inside the house along with an eight-year-old girl is reportedly being killed in by the millitants. The area looks akin to a battle scene, with heavy firing on between the two sides.

"The gun battle has intensified as militants are lobbing grenades and firing. The troops also are retaliating," a police official said. More Army reinforcements have been rushed to the spot, he added. The injured have been taken to the Government Medical College Hospital, Jammu, the official added.

Inspector General of Police (Jammu zone) K Rajendra told reporters that the militants could be a group that had crossed into Samba sector from Pakistan on Thursday night.

"They might have been lying low as there were ambushes laid in the area. But villagers must have spotted them this morning and then they must have opened fire." Security forces suspect that the infiltration bid on Thursday, recovery of a cache of arms and ammunition in the area and Sunday's attack might be an attempt to disrupt the Amarnath Yatra that begins June 18.

"We have inputs of more militants coming from across the border in a bid to escalate violence and disrupt the Amarnath pilgrimage and the assembly elections scheduled for later this year," said Maj Gen D Choudhary, general officer commanding of 26 Division that is responsible for Army deployment in the border areas.

Thousands of Hindus travel to Jammu via Samba on their onward journey to Kashmir to visit the Himalayan cave shrine of Amarnath at this time of the year. There have been attempts in the past to target devotees. "The militants could not have intruded without the knowledge of Pakistani Rangers," a police official said.

The Border Security Force (BSF), which guards the 187-km international border, had claimed that it had foiled the infiltration bid on Thursday night and that over a dozen militants had retreated to Pakistan after firing 1,000 rounds from their weapons.

Source : IANS