PATNA, 25 July 2004 — Unidentified attackers killed 10 members of a Muslim family in eastern India yesterday by slashing their throats, police said. The attack occurred while the 10 — six men, a woman and three children — slept in their hut on the outskirts of Jagdishpur, a village 115 km north of Bihar state capital Patna, said V.K. Jayant, inspector-general of police.
Jaglal Choudhary, superintendent of police in the Jagdishpur area, said the slayings did not appear to be religiously motivated.
He suggested they may have involved a personal dispute or were related to fighting between two rival groups from the area’s Muslim community.
The victims belonged to a family of beggars, said Neelmani, another police officer.
Bihar is considered India’s most lawless state. Tensions between India’s castes run deep in Bihar, where police say more than 70 people have been killed in caste-related violence in the past two years. Although Muslims and other members of minority religions are not technically part of the Hindu caste system, they are often treated as part of a caste.
