Srinagar: In yet another attack on non-natives, militants on Sunday evening killed two non-local labourers and injured another one in Kulgam district of southern Kashmir even as a hunt was launched by the police and security forces to track down the assailants.
The fresh attack came a day after a street hawker from Bihar and a carpenter from Uttar Pradesh were shot dead in two back-to-back attacks by militants in Srinagar and Pulwama districts.
“#Terrorists fired indiscriminately upon #NonLocal labourers at Wanpoh area of #Kulgam. In this #terror incident, 02 non-locals were killed and 01 injured. Police & SFs cordoned off the area. Further details shall follow. @JmuKmrPolice,” Kashmir Zone Police said in a tweet soon after the incident.
“Three non local labourers fired upon by terrorists in Wanpoh, Kulgam identified as Raja Reshi Dev (dead), Joginder Reshi Dev (dead) and Chunchun Reshi Dev (injured). All are residents of Bihar,” a senior police officer from Kulgam told Greater Kashmir.
The incident, police said, took place after militants whose number is being ascertained entered the rented accommodation of the labourers at Laran Gangipora, Wanpoh in Kulgam and fired upon them indiscriminately.
“Senior officers of police, Army and paramilitary forces have arrived on the spot to take stock of the situation. A vast area is under tight cordon and intense searches are going on,” the police officer said.
On Saturday two non-local labourers were shot dead in Srinagar and Pulwama. The police identified them as Arvind Kumar of Banka Bihar and Sagir Ahmad of UP.
Earlier, on October 5 the militants had shot dead prominent Kashmiri Pandit Makhan Lal Bindroo at his shop. Within an hour of Bindroo’s killing, a non-local street food vendor from Bihar was shot dead in Lal Bazar area of the city, which was followed by the killing of a Sumo stand president Mohammad Shafi Lone in Bandipora district of northern Kashmir.
A day later, militants shot dead a 50-year-old Sikh woman Satinder Kaur, who was principal of a government school and mother of two, and her colleague a Kashmiri Pandit Deepak Chand who was teacher at the school in old Srinagar.
In the wake of the attacks, police have launched a massive crackdown and detained scores of people across the Union Territory for alleged links with militants.
The security forces have also intensified anti-militant operations. According to the police, 13 militants have been killed over the past one week.