Militants massacre 35 Hindus in Jammu

Doda, May 1 (UNI) At least 35 Hindus were killed and ten others injured by militants in separate incidents in the districts of Doda and Udhampur of Jammu region during the past 24 hours.

The toll in yesterday's incident of Basant Garh in Udhampur district rose to 13 today with the recovery of nine more bodies from the upper reaches of Lolan Galla. Militants had abducted 13 Hindus from the area yesterday, who had gone to graze their cattle and later killed four of them.

Deputy Inspector General of Police Udhampur Lalat Indu Mohanty told UNI that nine more bodies were recovered today.

In another major incident, militants struck in a big way at Kulhand village of Doda district, killing atleast 22 Hindus and injuring ten others in two separate shooting incidents late last night, police said.

According to police, unidentified militants, dressed as civilians and army personnel, simultaneously struck the Hindu-dominated villages of Dawa and Pauchra at around 2200 hrs and asked the people to come out of their homes on the pretext of a meeting.

After two hours, militants started firing indiscriminately, killing at least 22 people, including a woman, on the spot. Ten villagers, including two women, were injured in the attack. The militants fled from the area after the incident, police added.

Senior Superintendent of Police Udhampur Rajesh Kumar said militants struck at village Kela Top last afternoon and took two persons as guides to reach at a kacha house in Basant Garh where a group of Hindus had been putting up with their cattle for the past few days.

Militant let off the guides and took all the Hindus with them to the jungle.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh condemned the terrorist attack and asked the perpetrators to realise that the people had rebuffed them repeatedly.

The union home ministry said the attack reflected the frustration of militants in the context of the recently held bypolls in four assembly constituencies.

Union Home Secretary V K Duggal reviewed the situation in the state and asked the government to take stringent measures to strengthen security.

Governor Lt Gen (retd) S K Sinha and Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad have also strongly condemned the incident.

The Chief Minister reached here by a chopper and visited the scene. He directed the security forces to take stringent measures against the terrorists.

Combing operations are underway to track down the militants, police said.

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