Kulgam, Kashmir:
Shocked relatives in Kulgam, south Kashmir, are mourning the death 19-year-old Zareena and her mother, 40-year-old Shakeela. Both were killed in their home, in cold blood, by suspected militants even though they were not their target.
The militants came looking for Siraj, Zareena's uncle who they believed to be an informer. Siraj escaped through the window and the militants killed the two women instead.
"The militants came and they (Shakeela and Zareena) stopped them at the door. By the time I jumped from the window and ran for life, militants fired at me but I survived. They entered in my house again and killed them," recalled Siraj Ahmad Gorsi.
Hours later, in another militant attack in Pulwama, a social worker Ghulam Nabi Wani was shot dead. He headed the managing committee of Madrasas but some say he was associated with the National Conference and that was why he was shot.
"It is barbarism...they accuse people for being security forces informers and kill them," said Shafakat Watali, DIG, South Kashmir.
In the past two months, there had been a lull in militant activities as the civilian unrest took centrestage, but now these three deaths have come as a brutal reminder.