Police: Suspected militants kill Kashmir officer, family

Police say suspected militants have fatally shot an officer, his wife and their daughter in Indian-controlled Kashmir

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Suspected militants fatally shot a police officer, his wife and their daughter in Indian-controlled Kashmir authorities said Monday.

Police said anti-India militants entered officer Fayaz Ahmad's home in the southern Tral area late Sunday and fired indiscriminately at those inside.

Ahmad was killed immediately, while his wife died a few hours later at a hospital. Their 23-year-old daughter died at a hospital early Monday.

In a statement, police called it a “terror attack.”

Ahmad was a so-called special police officer, a lower-ranked police official recruited mainly for intelligence gathering and counterinsurgency operations. His son works in the Indian military's counterinsurgency unit.

Meanwhile, a gunbattle between government forces and rebels raged Monday in Srinagar the region’s main city. Police said government forces surrounded a neighborhood in the city on a tip that militants were there. There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The Himalayan region of Kashmir is divided between India and Pakistan and claimed by both in its entirety. Rebels have been fighting Indian rule since 1989.

Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebel goal that the territory be united either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

New Delhi deems the Kashmir militancy to be Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and most Kashmiris call it a legitimate freedom struggle.

Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.