SUSPECTED Islamic militants dragged 24 Hindus from their homes and massacred them early yesterday in a remote village in Indian Kashmir.

Women and children were among those shot by a group dressed as soldiers.

The murders were the bloodiest violence since a new state government was elected seven months ago with a promise to heal the disputed state’s religious strife. The incident was a big setback for embryonic peace moves and will renew tensions in the region.

Up to 15 gunmen entered the village of Nadimarg, 30 miles south of Srinagar, the Jammu and Kashmir summer capital, shortly after midnight. Police guards were overpowered and their weapons were seized by the men, who said that they were soldiers conducting searches. Then the victims, including 11 women and two children, were dragged from their homes and lined up.

“My mother was begging for my ailing father’s life, but they showered bullets on both of them,” Bhushan Lal, 38, who hid in his home, said.

No group claimed responsibility for the attack, but the Hizbul Mujahidin, the main Kashmiri militant group, condemned it and accused India of orchestrating it. Pakistan also condemned the killings as a “blatant act of terrorism”, a reaction echoed by Jack Straw, the Foreign Secretary, in London.

Tensions in Kashmir had eased in recent months. There had been attempts to encourage some of the 300,000 Hindus who have fled the predominantly Muslim state over the past 13 years of violence to return to their homes.

The incident happened a day after the assassination of Abdul Majid Dar, the former Kashmir commander of Hizbul Mujahidin. He had laid the groundwork for talks with India in a failed ceasefire three years ago and the authorities were once again trying to persuade him to take a political role.

The killings will harm peace moves by Mufti Saeed, Kashmir’s newly elected Chief Minister. His much-vaunted “healing touch” policy sought to win over an alienated Muslim population by restoring normality in Kashmir, with measures such as the incorporation of the Special Operations Group paramilitary force into the regular police.

Within hours of the attack, the Indian Cabinet met in emergency session in Delhi. Despite expressing shock and grief, ministers were measured in their remarks.

Last year Delhi accused Pakistan of backing a similar atrocity and propelled the nuclear rivals to the brink of war. Western diplomats have been giving warnings for some months of an upsurge in the number of Pakistani-backed militants infiltrating across the frontier. They fear that fresh violence could lead to another stand-off.

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