Two migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh died in a grenade attack in south Kashmir’s Shopian on Monday night, with militants showing no let-up in targeted killings of non-locals and members of the Valley’s minority communities.
The labourers — Monish Kumar and Ram Sagar — were sleeping in their rented accommodation when the grenade was hurled.
“Terrorists lobbed hand grenade in Harmain, Shopian, in which two labourers from UP namely Monish Kumar and Ram Sagar, both residents of Kannauj,… got injured. They were shifted to hospital where they succumbed. Area being cordoned off,” Jammu and Kashmir police said in a tweet.
The attack came two days after suspected militants shot dead a Kashmiri Pandit, Puran Krishan Bhat, outside his home in Shopian.
In August, militants had killed Sunil Kumar Bhat and injured his elder brother Pitambar Nath Bhat in Shopian.
Kashmir police chief and additional DGP Vijay Kumar said Imran Bashir Ganaie, an alleged “hybrid militant”, or a person with no past record of militancy, was arrested soon after the attack on Monish and Ram.
Political parties across the mainstream azaadi divide condemned the attacks.
Dozens of people have been killed in the militant campaign that began soon after the scrapping of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status in 2019.
The attacks have increased since October last year, raising questions about government claims that the situation is improving in the Valley.
The Kashmiri Pandit Sangharsh Samiti, a group representing community members who did not migrate from the Valley, has expressed outrage at the killings and hit out at lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha for his alleged routine condemnation of such murders but failure to stop them.
Sinha tweeted about Monday night’s killings: “Words cannot adequately condemn today’s barbaric terror attack on Manish Kumar and Ram Sagar from Kannauj, UP. My deepest condolence to their families. One terrorist has been arrested & hunt is on for the others. Security apparatus has been directed to launch coordinated CT ops.”
