Ten people have been killed within six days in a sudden increase in violence in the usually more peaceful Hindu south of disputed Indian-administered Kashmir, officials said Monday.
Rebel groups in the Muslim-majority Himalayan region have fought for decades for their own independence or a merger with Pakistan, which controls a small part of the divided territory.
About half a million Indian soldiers are stationed in Kashmir, and its southern part, Jammu, is mostly Hindu and relatively peaceful.
But two gunmen suspected of being anti-India rebels opened fire on homes in the remote village of Dangri on Sunday, killing four residents and injuring five, police official Mukesh Singh told reporters.