SRINAGAR, June 26: Unidentified men shot dead 12 people in occupied Kashmir on Friday, two days before Pakistan-India talks expected to take up the Kashmir dispute.

The attack took place in Marh village, Poonch district, 580 kilometres from Srinagar, a police spokesman said.

He said the militants opened fire indiscriminately at the residential houses, killing 12 people and wounding 10 others. Among the victims were a woman and a child.

Most of the victims were members of the local village defence committee, a voluntary group armed by the Srinagar government to work with police to protect villagers from attacks.

Five of the wounded are in a critical condition and have been moved to occupied Jammu for treatment.

Police said the motive for the attack was unclear, adding that reinforcements had been rushed to search for the attackers.

The scene of Friday's attack was near the Hill Kaka region, where the Indian army launched a major operation last year to flush out militants.

Many locals had volunteered after the army operation to enrol in village defence committees, police said, and actually carried out several independent operations in the area.

The attack came hours after the bodies of an Indian railway engineer and his brother who were abducted for ransom three days earlier were recovered from a field in the district of Pulwama, police said.

Engineer Sudhir Kumar and his brother were found with their throats slit and hands and legs tied by rope, police said.

Two Kashmiris who were abducted with them on Wednesday had earlier been released unharmed.

Police said the abductors had been demanding five million rupees for the release of the men.

Police on Thursday blamed militants for the abduction, but no group has claimed responsibility.-AFP