India’s police offer bounty for suspects

INDIAN soldiers have blown up nine homes of suspected rebels in Kashmir and detained nearly 2 000 people since a deadly attack last week, sparking public anger and accusations of “collective punishment”.

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The demolitions, which left nine families homeless, began a day after the April 22 attack targeting the tourist hot spot of Pahalgam, in which 26 men were killed.

India has named two Pakistani citizens among the alleged attackers, and accused Pakistan of supporting “cross-border terrorism”, claims that Islamabad rejects.

But India is also hunting several of its own citizens in connection to the killings, the worst attack on civilians in contested Kashmir for a quarter of a century.

Police have launched a vast manhunt and detained a long list of suspects for questioning, including nearly 2 000 residents across the territory, a senior police official said.