12 January 2004	Monday	19 Ziqa'ad 1424

SRINAGAR, Jan 11: Four people, including a Muslim couple, were shot dead overnight in occupied Kashmir, where troops killed three Mujahideen and seized explosives, police said on Sunday.

Gunmen barged into the house of Farooq Ahmed Mirza, dragged him out and shot him dead in Lurgam village near the southern town of Tral, a police spokesman said. He said the assailants chopped off the man's head and took it with them.

No group immediately claimed responsibility for the killings, but the couple's close relatives had been linked in the past to counter-insurgency groups and pro-India political parties.

Five relatives of the couple had been killed earlier, police said. Mujahideen allegedly gunned down two more persons in separate incidents in southern Kashmir, police said. The motive for the killings was not immediately known.

Indian troops shot dead three Mujahideen during two clashes in Baramulla, in which two soldiers were also injured, police said. Security forces overnight recovered 22 anti-tank grenades, 83 hand grenades, 13 rockets, nine bombs and other explosives and ammunition from three places in Baramulla and the southern Rajouri district, police said.-AFP