Chandigarh: A Spanish woman and her son were killed by four unidentified attackers in the Kullu district of Himachal Pradesh on Friday night in a suspected robbery, police said.

A British national, Martin Young, who was accompanying them, was injured in the attack.

The identity of the mother-son duo has not yet been established, Himachal Pradesh Director General of Police A. K. Puri said in Shimla, the state capital.

Puri said robbery was the motive for the crime. The attackers took away Rs 18,000, $100 in travelers' checks, a camera and the passport of the British tourist.

The tourists were on a trek in the hills. The spot where they were attacked is an eight-hour trek from Manikaran, a tourist resort known for its hot springs. Large numbers of foreign tourists visit the area.

Puri said that the tourists had ignored a general advisory asking all foreign trekkers to hire local guides or porters and not to travel alone in the area.

A German tourist had been killed in similar circumstances in an adjoining area of Jammu and Kashmir state last month.

Over two dozen foreign tourists have disappeared without a trace in the Kullu Valley over the last six years. Special investigations carried out by the police have failed to establish any motives behind the disappearances. There are, however, hints that the drug mafia, which caters to the needs of the tourists, could be involved.

Puri said the drug trade flourished only because of the foreign tourists. Police, he said conducted occasional raids to destroy the hemp and cannabis crop in the area.

India Abroad News Service