17 non-locals among 23 civilians killed this year in J-K

SRINAGAR — At least 23 civilians, including 17 non-locals, have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir in militancy-related incidents this year.

Among the six locals killed, one person died during an encounter, while another victim was a Bharatiya Janata Party (BJP) affiliate shot dead by militants.

Data from news agency KNT shows that 37 civilians, including 22 non-locals, were injured in such incidents.

This year, militants have targeted non-local workers and vendors, including two men from Punjab—Amritpal Singh and Rohit Mashi—who were shot dead in Srinagar’s Shaheed Gunj area. A vendor from Bihar, Raja Shah Shankar, was killed in Bijbehara, Anantnag.

In another attack, a government employee and the brother of Territorial Army soldier Muhammad Razaq was killed in Rajouri’s Thanamandi. A BJP sarpanch, Aijaz Sheikh, was also shot dead at his home in Heerpora, Shopian.

Ten pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan were killed, and 12 were injured when suspected militants opened fire on a bus en route to Katra in Reasi. Another civilian, Abdul Rashid, died in an encounter in the Ahlan Gagarmandu forest of Kokernag.

Militants also killed Ashok Chauhan, a non-local labourer from Bihar, in southern Kashmir’s Shopian. Seven civilians, including three migrant workers, were shot dead in Gagangeer, Sonamarg, while five non-locals were injured in the same attack.

Among the injured, a cab driver from Dehradun, Dilranan Jeet Singh, was shot in Shopian. A civilian was wounded in a gunfight in Nowpora, Sopore, and a couple from Jaipur was injured in Anantnag’s Yannar area.

In Kathua’s Hiranagar and Rajouri’s Gundah village, civilians were also injured in militant firing. Additional injuries were reported in a Kokernag encounter and a Budgam attack on two migrant workers from Saharanpur, UP. A dozen people sustained injuries in a grenade attack at TRC Srinagar.

Separately, a 28-year-old worker from Akhnor, Vasudev, was mistakenly killed by the Border Security Force (BSF) in a case of mistaken identity.