Srinagar,
Two civilians were abducted on Saturday and later shot dead by suspected militants in Hajin village of Bandipora, taking the number of such killings to six this week.

The two civilians have been identified as 45-year-old Ghulam Hassan Dar and his 26-year-old nephew Bashir Ahmad Dar, both residents of Gulshan Mohalla of Hajin, a police official said.

The official said militants barged into their house on around 3:30 am on Saturday and abducted them. Their bodies were later found in a nearby locality, Raheem Dar Mohalla, the police said.

The police said preliminary investigation suggested involvement of the Lashkar-e-Toiba militants in the killings. “A case has been registered and investigations have started,” a police spokesman said.

The killing of the duo came within hours of a similar incident in Sopore, where suspected militants shot dead a civilian, Mohammad Ashraf Mir, and injured his wife.

The three killings have taken the number of such civilian killings, suspected to have been carried out by militants, to six in a week in the north Kashmir region. Earlier this week, three civilians were shot dead in evening hours near Baramulla town in north Kashmir.

Hajin has emerged as a stronghold of militants affiliated to the Lashkar-e-Toiba. The village had remained the headquarters of a dreaded counter-insurgency militia, which killed militants and their sympathisers.

In the past months, militants are suspected to have carried out several killings of civilians in the area on suspicion of their links with security forces. Last month, militants were suspected to have beheaded a young man in Hajin and left his body in an orchard on the village outskirts.