Hostage Killed by Kashmir Separatists; 2 Still Being Held

SRINAGAR, India — Muslim separatist kidnapers killed the Hindu chief executive of a state-run watch factory Tuesday after the government rejected their demands to free three jailed militants, halt searches and end a curfew, police said.

There was no word on the fate of two Muslim hostages also held by the Kashmir Students Liberation Front.

Police said the bullet-riddled body of H. L. Khera was found on a road in front of Srinagar’s fire station, near the militant stronghold neighborhood of Batmaloo, about an hour after expiration of a 2 p.m. deadline set by the abductors for acceptance of their demands.

Khera, a 48-year-old Hindu, was the general manager of state-run Hindustan Machine Tools, which owns a watch factory in Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir state, 400 miles north of New Delhi. He was seized separately from the other two hostages.