Rajouri: Four persons were killed and six injured, three of them critically, after terrorists forced their entry into three houses in Dhangri village of Rajouri on Sunday evening and started firing indiscriminately at the minority community members.
Additional Director General of Police (ADGP), Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh said that armed terrorists surfaced in the Dhangri village, some 7 km from Rajouri.
“Four persons have been killed and six injured, two of them critically,” the ADGP Jammu said.
Giving details, Police said that the terrorists surfaced in the village around 7 pm, entered the first house and started firing indiscriminately at the minority community members following which they entered the second house at a distance of 50 meters and continued indiscriminate firing at the house inmates.
It said that soon after, terrorists walked a distance of another 200 meters and entered the third house and repeated the indiscriminate firing.
Police said that as the news of the indiscriminate firing spread, Police and Army rushed to the spot and a search operation was launched in the area.
It said that the search operation was still underway with SOG, CRPF and Army QRTs searching the area.
Police sources said that after evoking criticism of Kashmiri people against the targeting of minority community members, Pakistan had shifted its target killing strategy to Pir Panjal.
Police identified the dead as Deepak Kumar, 23, son of Rajinder Kumar; Satish Kumar, 45, son of Sat Pal; and Pritam Lal, 57, son of Lal Chand while the injured were identified as Shishu Pal, 32, son of Pritam Lal; Pawan Kumar, 38, son of Satpal; Rohit Pandit, 27, son of Gopal Dass; Saroj Bala, 35, wife of Satish Kumar; Ridham Sharma, 17, son of Satish Kumar; and Pawan Kumar, 32, son of Satpal.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, local villagers said that soon after the firing, locals evacuated 10 injured persons and took them to Government Medical College (GMC) Associated Hospital, Rajouri.
Medical Superintendent of GMC Associated Hospital, Rajouri, Dr Mehmood H Bajar told Greater Kashmir that among the 10, three were declared brought dead while among the seven injured, three critically injured were airlifted to Jammu and one of the critically-injured had succumbed during referral to Jammu, taking the death toll to four.
The hospital witnessed chaotic scenes with locals raising slogans in the hospital saying the security forces and intelligence agencies had failed to protect the minority community members from target killings.
Talking to Greater Kashmir, Deputy Commissioner Rajouri, Vikas Kundal said, “Ten persons had been injured among which three were brought dead to the hospital while among the seven injured, three were critical and were airlifted from Rajouri to Jammu for specialised treatment among which one had succumbed to injuries.”
Meanwhile, Sanatana Dharma Rajouri has given a shutdown call on Monday against the target killings of the minority community members and the Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) has extended support to the shutdown call.