Jammu, July 20: Suspected Lashkar-e-Toiba militants gunned down a retired soldier and his family in the north of Jammu last night after they refused to hand over a wireless set to the gunmen.

The militants, armed with automatic assault rifles, stormed into the house of Abdul Gani in a hilly village in Rajouri district around 11.30 last night.

Gani, his wife Gul Begum, son Muzaffar Hussain and daughter Azma Begum were made to line up, along with a three-year-old child, and sprayed with bullets. Three members survived the attack.

Such massacres have become a common tool for spreading terror among villagers in the hilly areas of Jammu and Kashmir.

Gani’s family is said to have been targeted because militants suspected their involvement with the security forces. One member of the family was working as a porter.