SRINAGAR, Aug 18: Two militants, a policeman and four civilians have been killed in the latest bout of violence in occupied Kashmir, police said on Thursday. The militants were killed in the district of Pulwama late Wednesday during a clash with Indian troops, a police spokesman said.

He said suspected freedom fighters shot dead a contractor, Ghulam Bhat, and hanged to death another civilian in the same district around the same time. Police said suspected militants also shot dead two persons, one each in the areas of Rajouri and Udhampur.

“Police are ascertaining why they were targeted,” the spokesman said, adding that a policeman was killed in an ambush late Wednesday near the town of Banihal.

“The policemen were on a search operation in the area,” he said.

Meanwhile, police in north Kashmir fired into the air on Thursday to disperse thousands of people protesting against the murder of a woman and her daughter-in-law by suspected robbers, officials said.

The demonstrators at the town of Baramulla were angry over what they said was a failure by police to protect them.

The apparent robbery-killing was the first of its kind in recent years in the Muslim-majority region.

The two women, aged 60 and 33, were killed by robbers who smashed them over the head with a gas cylinder and a cooking utensil, police said.

“The killing has sparked fear among the people of our town,” said Sameena Akhter, a housewife in Baramulla.

Before dying, one of the two women managed to scrawl the letter ‘F’ on the wall in blood, police said.

“We are pursuing that lead to find the killers,” the officer said.—AFP