SRINAGAR, June 3 (1996): Eighteen people were killed overnight in Kashmir, including ten members of one family, as continuing violence gripped the strife-torn state, police said Wednesday.

Moslem militants forced their way into a house in Haril-Shalal village in northern Kupwara district and opened fire, killing ten members of a family as they slept, police said.

“The occupants were asleep when the incident occurred,” a police officer said. “The militants are yet to be identified.”

State administration authorities rushed more federal troops to the troubled district and cordoned off the village in a bid to track down the militants, witnesses said.

“People in the area are terror-struck,” a senior police official said.

In the Batamaloo area of Srinagar, a group of militants broke into the house of former separatist Manzoor Ahmed and his father and killed them both, police said. No group has claimed responsibility for the attack.

In the southern Anatnag district, separatists shot dead a villager, and three militants were killed when an explosive device they were handling blasted off, police said.

“Indian security forces also killed two militants in gun battles in northern Baramulla district,” police said.

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