SRINAGAR; 24, July 2013: Tragedy and tension gripped the Bemina area of the city Early Wednesday, following a murderous assault by unidentified assailants on the family of a local cleric, which left his two minor children dead and wife seriously injured.

The assailants barged into the house of Iftikhar Ahmad at Iqbalabad in Bemina while he was away in the local mosque to lead the pre-dawn prayers, police said.

The assailants slit open the throat of Iftikhar’s wife, Naseema, and two children, Mohammad Hashim (two years) and Aalia (Three years) with a sharp-edged weapon, the police said.

The trio lying in a pool of blood, were rushed to hospital when the cleric returned home from the mosque, they said.

While the children were declared dead on arrival, while as Naseema was battling for life, police said.