New Delhi: In yet another terror attack on non-Kashmiri people, two workers, hailing from Uttar Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, were shot and killed in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Friday, July 31, officials said, adding that the terrorists fired and injured the two workers, who worked at a brick kiln in Kellam village of Kulgam, in the evening.
“Both of them were immediately shifted to the Government Medical College and Hospital in Anantnag town for specialised treatment. However, both injured labourers, identified as Deepak of Chhattisgarh and Bhupinder of Uttar Pradesh, succumbed to critical injuries in the hospital despite the efforts of the doctors to revive them,” an official said.
Security forces have cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to track the attackers, officials said. Senior police and CRPF officers have rushed to the spot to supervise the operation to trace the assailants.
Further details are awaited.
The incident follows a heightened state of counter-terror operations across the Kashmir Valley in response to recent terrorist violence. Last week, terrorists killed the J&K Armed Police Head Constable, Ashiq Hussain Qureshi, while he was deployed on Yatra duty in Anantnag town.
After the targeting of prominent persons, judges, government servants and attacks on Kashmiri Pandits in the 1990s, terrorist groups shifted tactics after 2019 to focus heavily on “hybrid” methods and low-visibility intimidation.
Migrant labourers, roadside traders, and truck drivers from outside Jammu and Kashmir were systematically shot in public places to disrupt economic integration.
In October 2024, terrorists attacked infrastructure projects, such as the assault at a construction camp in Gagangeer, Ganderbal, which killed multiple non-local engineers and workers. Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir continue enhanced vigil around transit corridors and workplaces of non-local labourers.