1998 Prankote massacre

Prankote Massacre
LocationPrankote, Jammu and Kashmir, India
Date17 April 1998
TargetHindus
Attack type
Mass murder, arson, attempted forcible conversion
Deaths29
PerpetratorsLashkar-e-Toiba[1]
Hizbul Mujahideen[2]

The 1998 Prankote massacre was the killing and beheading of 29 Hindus in the villages of Prankote and Dakikote by militants in the Udhampur district (now in Reasi district) of the former Indian state of Jammu and Kashmir on 17 April, 1998.[3][4] The victims included 13 women and children.[3] The houses of those killed were later set to fire.[5] Survivors claimed that the killers had told the villagers to convert to Islam and massacred the villagers after they refused.[3] More than 1,000 villagers fled their homes in the area after the massacre.[6] It also provoked outrage across India.[3] The massacre was one of a series of massacres of Hindu villagers by Islamist militants in 1998.[1]

  1. ^ a b Swami, Praveen (23 May 1998). "Massacres and mischief". Frontline. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  2. ^ Cite error: The named reference tribunehizb was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  3. ^ a b c d Burns, John F. (20 June 1998). "Gunmen Kill 25 Hindus in Kashmir Attacks". The New York Times. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  4. ^ "26 Hindu villagers butchered in Jammu". Rediff. Retrieved 18 March 2022.
  5. ^ Ahmed, Mukhtar (20 April 1998). "'The village resembled a ghost area with beheaded bodies lying scattered'". Rediff. Retrieved 17 April 2023.
  6. ^ Baweja, Harinder (3 May 1998). "Increasing number of foreign mercenaries adds dangerous dimension to insurgency in J&K". India Today. Retrieved 17 April 2023.