Soldiers in Indian-administered Kashmir have demolished the homes of two men suspected of carrying out the disputed region’s deadliest attack against civilians in nearly two decades.
Police say the attackers are members of The Resistance Front (TRF), a faction of Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). Pakistan rejects the allegation.
Meanwhile, Indian security forces have launched a huge manhunt for those responsible for killing 26 men in Pahalgam on Tuesday.
Authorities have released wanted posters with sketches of three suspects: Adil Hussain Thokar, a suspected Kashmiri rebel, and two Pakistani citizens identified as Ali Bhai and Hashim Musa. They are also searching for Ashif Sheikh, another suspected rebel.
The family members of the two suspected rebels were also detained for questioning after the attack, a police officer and their relatives said.
Sheikh’s sister Yasmeena said soldiers cordoned off the area around their house in Kashmir’s southern Tral area late on Thursday night.
“One soldier climbed over the mud compound wall of our home,” said Yasmeena, who gave only one name.
“After some time, a big, frightening blast brought the house down. Everything inside was destroyed,” she said, adding that no one was inside the home at the time.
A police officer said soldiers also destroyed Thokar’s family home in neighbouring Bijbehara area in the same manner early on Friday.
“Both [suspected rebels] have been active for three to four years, and are part of TRF, which is an offshoot of LeT,” the officer told AFP news agency on condition of anonymity as he was not authorised to speak to the media.
“They are wanted militants [rebels] involved in earlier attacks as well on security forces,” the officer added.
Police have also offered a two million rupee ($23,500) bounty for information leading to each man’s arrest.