In a gruesome act, Pakistani militants on Friday beat a nine-year old girl to death and critically injured her 11-year-old sister in the Rajouri Hills area of Jammu and Kashmir.

A group of Harkat-ul-jehadi Islami (HuJI) militants entered the house of one Nisar Hussain in Khabala village.

Not finding him at home, they caught hold of his two daughters and beat them with their guns to extract information about their father, police sources said in Jammu.

Nazia (9), who received severe head injuries, died on the spot while Shareefa (11) was critically wounded.

The other villagers rushed Shareefa to hospital.

A major combing operation has been launched in the entire forest belt to track down the militants, the sources said.

More reports from Jammu and Kashmir