Separatist rebels decapitated a man (55) and his two children in Indian Kashmir because they suspected them of being informers for security forces, police said today.
Yesterday, a group of nine militants barged into the home of Mohammed Shafi in a remote village in Rajouri district and beheaded him and killed his son (22) and daughter (15) a police officer said.
Militants fighting Indian rule in Kashmir have in the past killed men and women they believe to be working for the Indian army, along with their families, to deter others.
In another incident, separatists threw a grenade in a government hospital in northern Kashmir, wounding 26 civilians and two soldiers. Police said the rebels had targeted soldiers who visited the hospital in Baramulla for treatment.
Authorities say the guerrillas could be trying to scupper peace moves between India and Pakistan by stepping up attacks on civilians and security forces in Kashmir.
More than 200 people have been killed this month in Indian Kashmir in a surge of violence that has coincided with the start of peace talks between India and Pakistan.
The two countries' foreign ministers held talks in Islamabad last week and renewed their vows to settle their differences over the disputed Himalayan region, divided since the Indian subcontinent won independence from Britain in 1947.