SRINAGAR, Dec 22: Twelve people were killed in clashes in occupied Kashmir and 14 injured in a grenade attack, police said on Monday.

Militants hurled a grenade on Monday at a police patrol at Kulgam, on the highway between Srinagar and held Jammu, injuring 12 civilian bystanders and two policemen, police said.

On Sunday night two unidentified men barged into the home of a member of a pro-India militia in Daraj village, Rajouri district, and tried to kidnap him and his son, a police spokesman said.

The militiaman, Mohammed Sharief, killed one of the assailants but was seriously injured and later died in hospital. The second militant escaped, the spokesman said.

Two women — Sharifa Begum and 18-year-old Kulsuma Bano — and a man, Ghulam Rasool Lone, were shot dead in Baramulla district.

The motive for the killings was not known, but a number of suspected informants working for the Indian government have been gunned down in the area, the spokesman said.

In the neighbouring Budgam district, police said unknown men shot dead Ghulam Ahmed, an alleged police source who was associated with the National Conference party until last year.

Three militants were killed by troops in gunbattles, said police, who were investigating the discoveries of three bullet-riddled bodies in separate incidents on Monday.

At least 148 people have died in the held state since Pakistan and India began a truce on Nov 26 on the Line of Control.

Both Indian forces and militants say the ceasefire does not apply to their operations.

More than 40,000 people have died in occupied Kashmir since the freedom movement started in 1989, according to Indian figures. Militants put the toll between 80,000 and 100,000. —AFP