Three labourers killed, 4 others injured in terrorist attack in J&K’s Ganderbal district (Lead)

Srinagar, Oct 20 (IANS) At least three labourers were killed and 4 others, including locals, injured in a terrorist attack on a labourers camp in J&K’s Ganderbal district on Sunday, officials said.

All the deceased hailed from outside Jammu and Kashmir.

Official sources said that terrorists attacked a camp of labourers of a private company engaged in building a tunnel connecting the Gagangier area with the Sonamarg tourist resort to make the Srinagar-Sonamarg road an all-weather road.

While two labourers were killed and 5 injured in the terrorist attack that took place around 8.15 p.m., another labourer succumbed in hospital, where the injured were taken for treatment. “Four labourers including locals are being treated for injuries in the SKIMS hospital in Srinagar,” an official said.

Army and police have rushed to the spot and the area has been cordoned off to trace the assassins, officials said.

Chief Minister Omar Abdullah condemned the terrorist attack.

“Very sad news of a dastardly & cowardly attack on non-local labourers at Gagangir in Sonamarg region. These people were working on a key infrastructure project in the area. 2 have been killed & 2-3 more have been injured in this militant attack. I strongly condemn this attack on unarmed innocent people & send my condolences to their loved ones”, he said in a post on his X page.

In a subsequent post, the Chief Minister said: “The casualty figure from the Gagangir attack is not final as there are a number of injured labourers, both local & non-local. Praying that the injured make a full recovery as the more seriously injured are being referred to SKIMS, Srinagar.”

Sunday’s attack comes two days after terrorists killed a non-local, identified as Ashok Chouhan, hailing from Bihar, in the Zainpora area of Shopian district.

The terror attacks in the Kashmir Valley come after a spurt of terrorist activity, especially by hardcore foreign mercenaries, in hilly districts of the Jammu division including Poonch, Rajouri, Doda, Kathua, Udhampur, and Reasi, which witnessed a number of hit and run attacks on the army, other security forces and civilians in recent months, prior to the Assembly elections.

Over 4000 trained commandos drawn from the elite Para commando force and those trained in mountain warfare have been deployed in the densely forested areas of these districts to prevent the terrorists from carrying out ambush attacks and then hiding in the difficult forest areas. In addition to the deployment of the army and the CRPF in these mountainous districts, police have also issued automatic weapons to the village defence committees (VDCs). The VDCs are groups of civilians trained to handle weapons to protect their villages and families from terrorists in remote, inaccessible areas of the Jammu division.

–IANS

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