I had assumed that it was mostly Hindus.
In a ghastly fallout of an apparent family feud, a police deserter allegedly conspired with some local militants and gunned down 11 members of three Muslim families, including eight children and a woman, in a village in Poonch district on Sunday night.
Three of the four persons alleged to be involved in the killings have been arrested, Inspector General of Police (Jammu) P.L. Gupta said on Monday, adding preliminary investigations showed the motive behind the slayings could be a family feud.
Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah said in New Delhi that investigations showed that a special police officer of the state police, who had deserted the force a year-and-a-half ago, had conspired with some local militants to avenge a family dispute.
Earlier, a police spokesman said a group of unidentified militants, believed to be foreign mercenaries, swooped on Salva-Bherah village around midnight and shot dead 11 members of three families and wounded two others.
The armed men struck at three houses between 9 and 9.15 p.m. and killed 11 persons. Eight of them were children.
They first struck at the house of Zakir Hussain, a teacher. He was shot dead when he opened the doors responding to knock. His two children Abid and Rabiya were also shot dead. His wife Nazma Bi was among the critically wounded.
They also targeted the houses of Khalid Hussain and Jan Mohammad in the neighbhourhood of Zakir's house.
Late on Monday night, the police claimed to have arrested three persons in connection with the incident.
IGP Gupta, who visited the scene of the massacre, said out of four suspects, three had been arrested. He said a hunt was on for the fourth suspect, who is a former special police officer.
A case had been registered at the Mendhar police station and further investigations were on, Gupta said.
Minister of State for Home Khaleed Najeeb Suharwardy and State police chief A K Suri visited the spot.
Meanwhile, seven militants, including a self-styled battalion commander of the pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen, were killed in separate encounters with security forces in the Kashmir Valley since Sunday night, a police spokesman said.
The Hizbul commander, Ghulam Mohammad Ganie was killed in an encounter with a joint search party of the army and the special operations group of the police in Baramulla district, the spokesman said.