Srinagar, May 11 (ANI): Security forces on Sunday stormed a house in Sambha district in Jammu region and killed two militants holed up inside the under-construction house.

The Army and BSF units in a joint operation used rocket launcher to destroy the under construction house where the militants were holed up.

Earlier in the exchange of gunfire five people, including a photojournalist and a jawan, were killed and 12 others were injured. Security forces rescued all the five hostages, including three women, from militants' clutches, official sources said.

The security forces had managed to rescue three of the four villagers who had been taken as hostage. One of the women hostages was killed during the exchange of fire raising the death toll to five.

A group of heavily armed militants, who are believed to have infiltrated across the border after firing at a BSF post here on Friday, struck at the house of a local political leader Hoshiyar Singh, killing him and his wife Sheshi Balla in Kali Mandi forest belt around 7:50 a.m.

The gun battle was going on between the militants and the security forces since eerly morning. The militant attack in Jammu plains is the first since 2002.

The BSF on Thursday night had foiled an infiltration bid along the international border in Samba sector. The Security forces had also recovered 10 kg of RDX along with ammunition and other items from Sujani forest area of Samba district.

Sources said this week's incidents might be linked to the melting of ice during summer, which provides militants with a chance to infiltrate into India from Pakistan.

The injured have been admitted to the Government Medical College Hospital, Jammu, sources said. (ANI)