By IANS,
Jammu : Suspected guerrillas have shot dead a former militant of the Hizbul Mujahideen and three members of his family in Jammu and Kashmir’s mountainous Doda district. Police said the massacre appears to be an act of reprisal.
The incident occurred around 11.30 p.m. Wednesday when terrorists barged into the house of Hizbul Mujahideen’s former guerrilla Ghulam Hassan in Marmat area, about 170 km north of Jammu, police officials said.
They opened indiscriminate fire, killing Hassan and three others, including his daughter Asiya, and injuring his wife Azima and a guest of the family.
The incident, police said, looked like an act of reprisal by the guerrillas whose ranks Hassan had deserted a few months ago.
“We are looking into the whole incident, trying to find out the motive,” senior superintendent of police Raghubir Singh told IANS over the phone.
Terrorist activities have picked up in Jammu and Kashmir with at least 13 people killed and over 40 injured since Sunday in various incidents. The worst was in the summer capital Srinagar on Sunday, when separatist insurgents triggered a massive blast leaving seven soldiers dead.