A girl was killed and five others wounded in a hand grenade explosion near the district police lines in the main market area in Doda in Jammu region on Tuesday afternoon.

A police officer said militants had aimed for the DPL, but the grenade missed its target and exploded on the road killing the girl.

The injured were taken to the Doda civil hospital.

In Kathua, meanwhile, 12 hours after a seven-day search operation for militants was called off by the army, the Jammu and Kashmir police succeeded in killing a militant.

"We succeeded in gunning down one of the militants who had engaged security forces for seven days in this thick forest area," Deputy Inspector General of Police, Jammu range, Farooq Ahmad, said.

He said the militant hiding in the thick forests hurled six grenades on a search party. "No one was injured and the search party led by Station House Officer Rajbagh retaliated and killed the militant," the DIG said.

Inspector General of Police P L Gupta and the DIG had visited the area and ordered massive searches after the army called off the search operation in Ghatti.