JAMMU, Aug 13: Five people were killed and nine injured in an attack by militants on a village in held Kashmir, police said on Saturday. The attack took place late on Friday in Shajroo village in Udhampur district, 120 kilometres northeast of here, senior police official Satvir Gupta said.

The militants targeted members of the local village defence committee — villagers trained by Indian security personnel in the use of firearms to defend themselves against attacks by the militants, he said.

“The village defence committee members retaliated,” he added. “The gunbattle continued until early this morning. Five committee members, all Hindus, have been killed and another nine injured,” he said, adding that the wounded included four children aged between two and 14.

The Jammu region of Muslim majority Kashmir is dominated by Hindus.

The militants battling Indian rule are believed to routinely target members of village defence committees and others they suspect of being police informers. —-AFP