Police: Gunmen attack village in Kashmir, killing 4 civilians

SRINAGAR, India — Attackers fired bullets at a row of civilian houses in a remote village in Indian-controlled Kashmir, killing at least four civilians and injuring five, police said on Monday.

Police have accused activists fighting Indian rule for decades of carrying out the attack on Dhangri village in southern Rajouri district, which is close to the heavily militarized Line of Control that divides the disputed region between India and Pakistan.

Two gunmen opened fire indiscriminately on Sunday night at three houses in Dhangri, senior police officer Mukesh Singh told reporters. He added that four civilians had been killed and five others injured.

Authorities dispatched police and soldiers to the area and launched a search for the attackers.

Manoj Sinha, New Delhi’s top administrator in the region, condemned the incident and called it a “cowardly terrorist attack”.

“I assure the people that the perpetrators of this despicable attack will not go unpunished,” he said.

There has been no independent confirmation of the attack.

India and Pakistan each claim the divided territory of Kashmir in its entirety.

Rebels in the Indian-controlled part of Kashmir have been fighting the New Delhi regime since 1989. Most Muslim Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists that Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the accusation and most Kashmiris view it as a legitimate struggle for freedom. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.