Girl, 7, killed in gunfight in Jammu Kashmir

By Zahid Rafiq

SRINAGAR, Jammu Kashmir

A 7-year-old girl was killed in a gun battle between Indian police and militants Wednesday, police said.

Three militants were also killed and the girl’s 9-year-old brother was seriously wounded in Kupwara district, northwest of regional capital Srinagar.

The girl was named by local media as Kaneeza.

In a statement, police said she was killed by a “stray bullet more than 100 meters away from the gun-battle site”.

She is the second child shot dead in the past week. A 15-year-old boy was killed by Indian forces last Thursday in southern Kashmir during a protest over the deaths of two local militants.

Kashmir, a Muslim-majority Himalayan region, is divided between Indian and Pakistani control.

Since 1989, militants in Indian-controlled Jammu Kashmir have fought for independence or unification with Pakistan.