Militants gun down Kashmir family
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Shelling across the Line of Control in Kashmir killed five people Sunday, Pakistan's media reported.
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SPECIAL REPORT
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SRINAGAR, Indian-administered Kashmir (CNN) -- Suspected Islamic militants gunned down a family of Muslim villagers and killed a police officer in the Indian-controlled state of Kashmir in two separate incidents on Sunday.
The attackers barged into the villagers' home in Kot Dhara, a community of Muslim shepherds, about 200 km (124 miles) north of Jammu, India. The gunmen opened fire killing four women and two children, police said.
The bodies also bore wounds apparently caused by sharp instruments, police said. An investigation is underway.
Officials say attacks in the region against civilians are designed to frighten them into keeping quiet about militant whereabouts.
Also Sunday, Islamic militants were suspected of killing an Indian police officer in Goripora, in the southern part of Kashmir, authorities said.
Sunday's attacks come at a time when India and Pakistan are preparing for talks to renew diplomatic relations.
India controls two-thirds of the region and Pakistan the other third. Each country claims Kashmir as its own.
The disputed Himalayan territory has been at the heart of tensions between the two countries and the focus of two of the three wars they have fought since independence in 1947.
Last year, the two countries stood on the brink of a fourth war amid accusations from New Delhi that Pakistan was supporting Kashmiri militants, providing arms and funding for attacks on targets inside India.
Tens of thousands of people have been killed in the region since 1989, when a separatist movement against Indian rule turned violent.
-- From CNN Correspondent Ram Ramgopal in Srinagar
