INDIAN police forces detained at least 500 people in a sweeping crackdown in Kashmir following a string of suspected militant attacks and targeted killings, local officials said today.

Last week, three Hindus and a Sikh were fatally shot in the disputed region’s main city of Srinagar in a sudden re-emergence of violence against civilians.

Kashmiri politicians of all stripes have widely condemned the events.

Local police blamed the killings on militants fighting against Indian rule.

Officials said that they had detained more than 500 people for questioning in the last three days across the Kashmir Valley. The suspects are said to belong to the Resistance Front (TRF).

The death toll from militant attacks this year is 28, including many Muslims.

The region’s top police officer Dilbag Singh described the killings as a “conspiracy to create terror and communal rift.”

On Thursday, TRF said in a statement that it was targeting those working for Indian authorities, not picking targets based on faith.

Meanwhile, police arrested the son of India’s junior home minister Ajay Mishra after nine protesting farmers were killed.

Four farmers died today when a car owned by Mr Mishra ran over a group of people in Lakhimpur Kheri district, Uttar Pradesh, officials said.

Farm leaders said that Mr Mishra’s son was in the car when it ran over the protesters, but the minister has denied this.

His driver and three members of the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party, who were also in a car, were killed in the violence that broke out after the incident.

Police officer Upendra Agarwal said that Ashish Misra was arrested following day-long questioning after “he failed to furnish any supportive evidence to prove that he was not present in any of the three vehicles that ploughed through a crowd of farmers, killing four of them.”