A minor girl was killed and her six-year-old brother was injured in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Wednesday, after stray bullets from an ongoing encounter entered their home. The children’s house is located in Jugtiyal village, and militants were locked in a gun battle with security forces just 100 metres away.

Three of the militants were killed after a joint team of the Rashtriya Rifles, Central Reserve Police Force and the state police cornered them, NDTV reported. “It is unfortunate that these kids were hit by stray bullets during the encounter,” Javed Geelani, Inspector General of Police Kashmir said, according to the news channel.

The operation had begun early on Wednesday and lasted several hours. A police official was injured, The Indian Express reported.

On March 9, a 15-year-old boy was killed during an encounter in the state’s Pulwama district. State police chief SP Vaid had said the teenager was hit by a stray bullet “after he managed to sneak up near the site’’ were security forces were engaged in a gunfight. Two militants were killed in that operation.

The Indian government believes infiltration attempts in the area have risen over the past few months.