JAMMU, July 13: At least 24 civilians, including a child, were killed in Indian-occupied Kashmir on Saturday in an attack on a slum by gunmen disguised as Hindu holy men, police said.

Police said the gunmen opened fire in a crowded slum area of Jammu before fleeing.

The army has launched a manhunt.

“At least 24 people have been killed and 20 have been wounded,” a police official told Reuters.

A similar militant attack on an Indian army camp near Jammu in May which killed more than 30 people, many of them soldiers’ wives and children, pushed India and Pakistan closer to the brink of war before international diplomatic efforts pulled them back.—Reuters