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JAMMU/SRINAGAR: At least four villagers died of gunshots and nine more were gravely wounded after terrorists drove an SUV on Sunday evening into the mountainside village of Upper Dhangri, about 10km south of Rajouri in Jammu division of J&K, and fired indiscriminately at a cluster of three houses of Hindu residents standing 50 metres apart, near a Ram temple.
Locals and relatives shifted the wounded to Government Medical College, Rajouri, where three people were declared dead on arrival. “The injured have multiple bullet wounds,” medical superintendent Dr Mehmood said. One of them died later at night.
The deceased were Satish Kumar, 45, Deepak Kumar, 23, and Pritam Lal, 57, while the one who died in the hospital was yet to be identified, an official said.
Shishu Pal, 32, Pawan Kumar, 38, Rohit Pandit, 27, Saroj Bala, 35, Ridham Sharma, 17, and Pawan Kumar, 32, were among the wounded. Those with critical wounds were airlifted to Jammu city, where various organisations called a Rajouri district bandh Monday in protest against the killings.
Jammu zone ADGP Mukesh Singh said: “As per information, two terrorists targeted the houses in upper Dangri area. Police, CRPF and army troops have cordoned off the area. We’ll try to neutralise the terrorists soon. Details will follow. A search has been launched in the area.”
Sources said the three houses situated a little away from the main village belong to the minority community in the Muslim-majority Rajouri region. Police, Army and paramilitary troopers as well as district administration officials have reached the spot.
J&K was rocked by another terrorist attack on New Year’s Day. Terrorists hurled a grenade at CRPF bunker near Hawal Chowk in central Kashmir’s Srinagar district in the evening. The grenade missed the target and exploded on the road, injuring a civilian identified as Sameer Ahmed Malla.
The attacks followed the killing of four suspected Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in an hour-long shootout near Sidhra on the outskirts of Jammu city when they were trying to sneak into Kashmir in a truck this Wednesday. A haul of seven AK-47 semiautomatic rifles, an M-4 rifle and grenades were found on them.
On December 26, police defused an IED packed with more than 10kg of RDX and shrapnel that was found in forest in Udhampur district of Jammu region.
Sunday’s shooting gave off several contrasting, unverified reports that the terrorists were holed up in the village or the nearby forests. Some people also said two terrorists drove into the village in a SUV, fired at the people, and escaped.
It wasn’t clear how many terrorists were involved in the attack, and no group has claimed responsibility till the filing of this report.
Terrorist incursions are known to shoot up during public events like Republic Day and elections in J&K. The Election Commission has announced polls to panchayat, DDC and municipal corporations in March 2023.
Before Independence Day this year, terrorists attacked an Army camp in Rajouri district and killed four soldiers in a pre-dawn strike on August 11, marking the return of ‘fidayeen’ to J&K after almost over three years. The toll swelled to five with the death of another wounded soldier.
On August 12, 2021, a child died while seven people were wounded in a grenade attack on the house of a BJP functionary in Rajouri district.
Locals and relatives shifted the wounded to Government Medical College, Rajouri, where three people were declared dead on arrival. “The injured have multiple bullet wounds,” medical superintendent Dr Mehmood said. One of them died later at night.
The deceased were Satish Kumar, 45, Deepak Kumar, 23, and Pritam Lal, 57, while the one who died in the hospital was yet to be identified, an official said.
Shishu Pal, 32, Pawan Kumar, 38, Rohit Pandit, 27, Saroj Bala, 35, Ridham Sharma, 17, and Pawan Kumar, 32, were among the wounded. Those with critical wounds were airlifted to Jammu city, where various organisations called a Rajouri district bandh Monday in protest against the killings.
Jammu zone ADGP Mukesh Singh said: “As per information, two terrorists targeted the houses in upper Dangri area. Police, CRPF and army troops have cordoned off the area. We’ll try to neutralise the terrorists soon. Details will follow. A search has been launched in the area.”
Sources said the three houses situated a little away from the main village belong to the minority community in the Muslim-majority Rajouri region. Police, Army and paramilitary troopers as well as district administration officials have reached the spot.
J&K was rocked by another terrorist attack on New Year’s Day. Terrorists hurled a grenade at CRPF bunker near Hawal Chowk in central Kashmir’s Srinagar district in the evening. The grenade missed the target and exploded on the road, injuring a civilian identified as Sameer Ahmed Malla.
The attacks followed the killing of four suspected Pakistani Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in an hour-long shootout near Sidhra on the outskirts of Jammu city when they were trying to sneak into Kashmir in a truck this Wednesday. A haul of seven AK-47 semiautomatic rifles, an M-4 rifle and grenades were found on them.
On December 26, police defused an IED packed with more than 10kg of RDX and shrapnel that was found in forest in Udhampur district of Jammu region.
Sunday’s shooting gave off several contrasting, unverified reports that the terrorists were holed up in the village or the nearby forests. Some people also said two terrorists drove into the village in a SUV, fired at the people, and escaped.
It wasn’t clear how many terrorists were involved in the attack, and no group has claimed responsibility till the filing of this report.
Terrorist incursions are known to shoot up during public events like Republic Day and elections in J&K. The Election Commission has announced polls to panchayat, DDC and municipal corporations in March 2023.
Before Independence Day this year, terrorists attacked an Army camp in Rajouri district and killed four soldiers in a pre-dawn strike on August 11, marking the return of ‘fidayeen’ to J&K after almost over three years. The toll swelled to five with the death of another wounded soldier.
On August 12, 2021, a child died while seven people were wounded in a grenade attack on the house of a BJP functionary in Rajouri district.
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