Militants cut off the noses of six persons, including a woman, and thrashed another person at a village in Rajouri district of Jammu and Kashmir, official sources said.

A group of about seven to eight foreign militants, dressed in combat fatigues, entered Panihad village of the district and thrashed Abdul Khaliq on the midnight of March 28, the sources said in Jammu.

The militants, later, went to the house of Mir Waiz, who was absent, and abused his family members, cutting off the noses of his wife Fatima, his son Mohammad Razaq and a guest Nisar Hussain.

The militants then proceeded to the house of Noor Hussain and chopped off his nose and that of his two sons.

Villages later took the injured to a hospital, the sources added.

Police and security forces have rushed to the area and launched search operations to track down the militants, whose identity and that of their outfit have not been ascertained so far.