The Chamba killings took place in two separate incidents at Kalaban and Satrundi early this morning. The militants struck at around 3 am when the construction labourers were fast asleep in their temporary shelters.

The militants gunned down 27 at Kalaban, eight at Satrundi. The injured have been rushed to hospitals. The condition of two is reported to be serious.News of the massacre became public when two of the injured at Kalaban -- Dhian Singh and Beli Ram -- with blood oozing from their wounds, trudged eight km through the dense forests and informed about the mayhem at the nearest Mansa police post.

Dhian Singh told the policethat the militants, accompanied by two local accomplices Sharif Mohammad and Waziroo, took away all the money, watches, clothes and other valuables and the detonators and gelatine sticks, used by labourers for blasting the mountains for road construction, before opening fire.

According to eyewitnesses, the militants had been seen in the area a few days ago. Only last month, after four Himachalis were killed by militants in Doda areas adjoining HP, top police officers of both the states had planned to carry out joint operations along the Bhaderwah-Chamba border.Barely three days ago, HP Chief Minister Prem Kumar Dhumal had told the state Assembly that he had spoken to Union Home Minister L K Advani and J&K Chief Minister Farooq Abdullah about joint combing operations and patrolling by the policemen of the two states.

Dhian Singh told The Indian Express that the labourers had been working on the Barugarh-Bangi road for the past 10 days. About 15 to 16 people, long-haired and bearded, came to the labourers'tent in Kalaban, he said, woke them up and asked them to surrender their belongings.

They made them stand in three rows and tied their hands and then fired. ``I escaped the firing because I fell and feigned death,'' said Dhian Singh.According to Dhian Singh, all the victims were Hindus while the lone Muslim labourer, Latif Mohamad, sleeping in the tent was forcibly picked up by the terrorists and asked to carry the ammunition.

Hours later, militants struck at Satrundi, 20 km from Kalaban, and gunned down eight people, including a police constable Shakti Singh, and injured three, police sources said.

Considering the time gap between the two carnages, officials believe the same group of militants could not have struck at both the places because of the distance as well as the time taken to travel through the difficult road conditions.

Authorities in Jammu say that the militants will sneak back into Doda since they don't have much of a support base in Himachal. Accordingly, vigil has been intensifiedalong the Bhaderwah-Chamba border by rushing Army troops.