India blames militants for massacre

INDIA yesterday turned its anger on Pakistan and Islamic militants, blaming them for the massacre of 27 Hindu civilians in a slum in Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"How long will we bear this?" Deputy Prime Minister Lal Krishna Advani asked as he stood at the Qasimnagar slum on the outskirts of Jammu the site of the Saturday evening massacre.

Up to eight suspected Islamic militants had walked into the slum on the outskirts of Jammu and threw three or four grenades before opening fire with automatic weapons, witnesses told police. They escaped after trading gunfire with security forces. Two of the 30 people injured in the attack died in a hospital early yesterday bringing the death toll to 27. Another 10 remain critically injured, doctors at the Government Medical College Hospital in Jammu said.