Two non-local labourers were injured in the second militant attack on outsiders in five days in south Kashmir on Tuesday night.

The development took place hours after a police officer was penalised for his apparent failure to prevent the previous attack in the area.

Officials said the two labourers were injured after militants opened fire at them in Anantnag district.

Police said the injured — identified as Maharashtra residents Akshay and Saurav — were rushed to Srinagar’s SMHS hospital where their condition was said to be stable.

On July 13, three labourers from Bihar were shot at and injured at Gagren in Shopian district.

The police, in a rare move on Tuesday, “attached” Ghulam Geelani Bhat, an officer heading the police station in Gagren.

Attachment is sort of a punishment where officers involved play only a subordinate role.

The order doesn’t mention how the officer failed to prevent the attack.

In a separate incident, militants opened fire at forest employees manning a road in Pulwama, injuring two local employees on Wednesday.

A police spokesperson said “terrorists had fired upon a team of forest department employees” who had set up a checkpoint to apprehend timber smugglers near Bangender Bridge in the south Kashmir district.

The injured have been identified as Imran Yousaf Wani and Jahangir Ahmed Chechi.

A militant campaign to target outsiders and members of the minority Hindu community started soon after the 2019 scrapping of special status. Militant groups as well as locals believe the Centre wants to change the demography of the Muslim-majority region by allowing outsiders to settle here.

The administration has failed to prevent such attacks despite the presence of security forces in every nook and corner of the region. However, the attacks have failed to drive out the migrant labourers who work in lakhs here.