The killing of 20 men by Indian police in Andhra Pradesh has resulted in widespread condemnation by politicians and human rights groups, with several protests in neighbouring Tamil Nadu, where the majority of victims were from.
The men were shot by state police, who suspected them of smuggling sandalwood near the border with Tamil Nadu. The police defended their actions, saying they fought back against attacks with axes sticks and stones.
Indian media reported some of the men were shot in the face at close range.
"At one of the two sites where bodies were found, seven of the nine dead had been shot in the face or the back of the head," the Indian Express reported, saying many of the victims had unexplained burn injuries.
The Andhra Pradesh government denied the men were shot at close range and dismissed allegations the men were executed after capture.
"It was purely as a self-defence our forces opened fire when they were outnumbered by the smugglers. Previously we had lost 6 brilliant officers at the hands of smugglers," the state's media advisor Parakala Prabhakar said.
BBC Tamil's Muralidharan Kasiviswanathan, who visited the area where the men were killed, said the killings have sent shock waves through Tamil Nadu.
Tamil political parties condemned the “brutal” police action and said 12 of the dead were labourers from India's southern-most state.
Tamil Nadu chief minister O Panneerselvam wrote to his Andhra Pradesh counterpart Chandrababu Naidu, seeking a “credible and speedy inquiry” into the incident.
“While it is possible that these persons may have been engaged in illegal activities, the occurrence of such high casualties in the operation raises concerns whether the task force personnel acted with adequate restraint,” he said in the letter.
India's National Human Rights Commission (NHRC) requested a report on the killings from the Andhra Pradesh government , noting that the incident “involved a serious violation” of human rights of individuals. NHRC member Justice D Murugesan said the killings could not be justified as “self-defence” since it resulted in loss of lives of 20 people.
The leader of the MDMK, Vaiko, said: "Big smuggling sharks escape and it is the poor who have been killed."
Protesters in Tamil Nadu attacked seven Andhra Pradesh Transport Corporation buses in Chennai due to the killings.
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