JAMMU, Dec 2 — Militants killed four children and critically injured two others at Surjian village in Mahore belt of Udhampur district last night.

The police said that two militants, equipped with assault rifles, barged into the house of a village Defence Committee, member, Gian Singh, when he and his family members were asleep. After forcing their entry, the militants opened indiscriminate fire, killing four children aged between three and 15 — Hoshiar Singh, Bika Dev, Darshan Kumar and Anju Kumari — on the spot. Gian Singh and his son sustained bullet wounds and were shifted to hospital.

Groups of people gathered at the scene of the incident and police parties were rushed to launch a hunt for the killers.

This is the first major attack on the minority community since the enforcement of the Ramzan ceasefire.

Official sources here said today that about 10 militants first threw grenades at the house of Gian Singh around 10.45 p.m. and then barged into it firing indiscriminately killing the children, who were sleeping.

While fleeing to the upper reaches after committing the crime, the militants exploded grenades and opened fire to terrorise the villagers, the sources said.

SRINAGAR: Elsewhere, forces gunned down two militants in the Jammu region since last evening even as the Kashmir remained mainly peaceful on the fifth day of the unilateral ceasefire on Saturday.

An official spokesman claimed the situation in the Kashmir valley was peaceful with no report of any militant attack on security forces since Friday evening.

However, he said, the police rescued a girl after the militant who had abducted her was arrested at Tangri in the frontier district of Kupwara on Friday evening.

Militants entered the house of one Abdul Rashid with the intention to kidnap her. However, the family members foiled the attempt, he said and added that militants fired few rounds while fleeing. No one was hurt.