Gunmen kill 24 in Hindu village

NADIMARG, India -- Suspected Islamic militants dressed in Indian army uniforms shot and killed 24 Hindus in a remote village in Kashmir early Monday, police said.

A group of about eight to 10 armed men dragged villagers out of their homes in Nadimarg in the disputed Himalayan province and shot them at close range, police and witnesses said. The dead included two children.

The victims, upper-caste Hindus known as Kashmiri Pandits, were lined up and shot outside a temple. Others in the village managed to escape, said police officer M.A. Anjum.

Police said they believed the gunmen were Islamic militants, who have been fighting for Kashmir's independence from India since 1989. There was no immediate comment from rebel groups.

"Around midnight a group of men in army uniform banged on our doors and dragged us outside," said Ramesh Kumar, a village resident who escaped.

The massacre, in the village 30 miles south of the summer capital of Srinagar, could increase tensions between India and Pakistan. The nations came to the brink of war after the Indian government blamed Pakistan for similar attacks a year ago.

"We will not spare them. We will mobilize the people of Kashmir against these killers," said Chief Minister Mufti Mohammed Sayeed, the state's top elected official.

Tens of thousands of Kashmiri Pandits, who have lived in the region for centuries, have fled after attacks by Islamic militants. Many live in refugee camps in other Indian cities.

"This is a blot, a scar on the state. They are targeting the minuscule minority that stayed behind for the love of their land," Sayeed said.

In New Delhi, Prime Minister Atal Bihari Vajpayee summoned a meeting of his top security advisers, and Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani was planning to visit the site of the attack Tuesday.

The American Ambassador to India, Robert Blackwill, condemned "the ghastly murder of innocent men, women and children."

"The global war on terrorism will not be won until such atrocities end against all countries," Blackwill said in a statement.

Pakistan also condemned the attack. "This blatant act of terrorism, reportedly carried out by persons wearing Indian army uniforms, is reprehensible," a statement by the Pakistan foreign ministry said.

The massacre occurred a day after unidentified gunmen assassinated an Islamic guerrilla leader who was forced out of Kashmir's main rebel group after reportedly holding secret talks with the Indian government.

The Himalayan province of Jammu-Kashmir is India's only Muslim majority state. Most Muslims inhabit the Kashmir valley in the north, while the Jammu region in the south is predominantly Hindu.

Suspected Islamic guerrillas have attacked Hindu villages in the past in an apparent attempt to flush out Hindus from the valley. At least 23 people were killed in a similar attack in 1998 in another Hindu village.

Hours after Monday's attack, hundreds of Hindu refugees living in camps in Jammu -- the state's winter capital -- staged a street protest, accusing the government of failing to protect them.

India accuses Pakistan of sponsoring an insurgency in Kashmir that has resulted in more than 61,000 deaths. Pakistan denies the charge, saying it supports the rebels but does not give them aid.

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