The militant strike that killed seven civilians and injured many others in Ganderbal on Sunday night was “more than a routine attack” on non-local people and was intended to disrupt the much-awaited all-weather connectivity to Ladakh, a police veteran said.

A Kashmiri doctor and six migrant construction officials and labourers were killed when militants targeted a camp housing employees of APCO Infratech, a private company involved in building the Z-Morh tunnel, at Gagangir.

The 6.5km tunnel — which is nearly ready for inauguration — will provide all-weather connectivity between Srinagar and Sonamarg, with the larger plan being to provide year-round connectivity to Ladakh through it and the 14.2km Zojila tunnel.

Heavy snowfall now cuts Sonamarg and Ladakh from the rest of the country for several months during the winter.

Those killed in Sunday’s attack have been identified as Dr Shahnawaz, a doctor from Budgam; Shashi Abrol, a designer from Jammu; Anil Kumar Shukla, a manager from Madhya Pradesh; Gurmeet Singh, a rigger from Gurdaspur, Punjab; and Bihar residents Faheem Nazir, Mohammad Hanief and Kaleem. Nazir was a safety manager while the other two were labourers.

Former Jammu and Kashmir police chief Kuldeep Khoda said the Z-Morh tunnel had a strategic significance in addition to its potential to boost livelihoods in Kashmir and Ladakh.

“To me, the attack had three objectives. One, continuing to target non-locals to send across a message that they should leave this place. Additionally, it was a message to the new government that despite the robust (voter) participation in the elections, militancy will continue,” Khoda told The Telegraph.

But above all, he said, it was an attack on a key infrastructure project that would eventually connect Ladakh with the rest of the country through the year.

Khoda said the road had become more significant following the Chinese incursions in Ladakh. He said China was bitterly against infrastructure projects in Ladakh or those connecting the region with the rest of India. However, he does not see a Chinese role in the attack.

“China is involved in all the dirty things on the border but there is no evidence of China’s involvement in the militancy. But at the same time, a lot of China-made weapons have been recovered from terrorists,” he said.

Retired Colonel Sonam Wangchuk, a Kargil war hero and recipient of the Mahavir Chakra, the country’s second-highest gallantry award, said the absence of an all-weather road was a hurdle to defence preparedness in Ladakh.

“Ladakh is a junction where two archrivals of India (Pakistan and China) meet. For strategic as well as other reasons, we need such roads,” he said.

The work on the twin tunnels was planned by the Manmohan Singh government in 2012. The name “Z-Morh” comes from a Z-shaped stretch of road near the construction site.

The area where the tunnel is being built lies at an altitude higher than 8,500ft and is prone to snow avalanches.

The tunnel was scheduled for completion by August last year but delays pushed the soft opening (for trial runs by the Border Roads Organisation) to February this year.

Its official inauguration was further delayed by the Model Code of Conduct, put in place for the Assembly elections, and is expected soon.

Union home minister Amit Shah has warned of the “harshest response” to the attack from the security forces.

“It (Pakistan) is still trying to kill innocent people in this region and to destabilise peace here,” lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha said at a Police Martyrs’ Day event on Monday.

The security forces are searching for the militants, who seem to have melted into the thick foliage around the area.