Militants in Indian Kashmir segregate men from women and children before opening fire

SRINAGAR, India – Militants who killed 26 people in India’s Kashmir region separated the men from the women and children and asked the men for their names before shooting them at close range, security officials and survivors said on April 23.

About 1,000 tourists and 300 local service providers were in the Baisaran Valley – known as mini Switzerland for its lush hilltop meadow, surrounded by dense pine forests – when three gunmen launched the April 22 attack, the worst in India in nearly two decades.

The heavily armed attackers roamed around the grasslands and fired 60 rounds of ammunition but did not shoot women and children, said a security official who did not want to be named as he was not authorised to speak to the media.

His account was based on conversations with survivors.

Ms Asavari Jagdale, from India’s western state of Maharashtra, lost her father and uncle in the attack.

She told local media that she and her family hid in a nearby tent along with other tourists when the shooting started.

When the militants reached their tent, Ms Asavari said they asked her father, Mr Santosh Jagdale, to come out and recite an Islamic verse.

“When he failed to do so, they pumped three bullets into him, one in the head, one behind the ear and another in the back,” she said. “My uncle was next to me. The terrorists fired four to five bullets into him.”

Mr Debasish Bhattacharyya, a Hindu who teaches at Assam University and grew up in a Muslim neighbourhood in the state, said he was familiar with Islamic verses.

The militants ordered him and those nearby onto their knees, and when the others started chanting the verses, he followed along.

“I knew the words and, at that moment, it was