Srinagar: Two suspected militants and a paramilitary trooper have been killed in back-to-back attacks on a village and an army base in the Jammu region on Tuesday (June 11) evening, with the opposition Congress raising questions about the Union government’s claims of “normalcy” in J&K.
The escalation of violence in Jammu comes barely two days after a bus carrying pilgrims who were returning from the Shiv Khori pilgrimage was targeted by at least two suspected militants in Jammu’s Reasi district.
Ten people, including seven pilgrims, were killed when the vehicle plunged into a deep gorge.
The opposition Congress on Wednesday questioned the “silence” of Prime Minister Narendra Modi on the three attacks, which took place in a span of three days.
Senior Congress leader Pawan Khera said that the attacks have “thoroughly exposed” the “loudmouth chest-thumping and hollow claims of [the] return of peace and normalcy” in J&K.
“The fact that the BJP did not even bother to fight elections in [the] Kashmir valley is a testament to the fact that their ‘Naya Kashmir’ policy is an abject failure,” Khera said in a statement.
A senior J&K police officer said that the first of the two latest attacks took place along the border with Pakistan, where a group of suspected militants opened fire on the residents of Saida village in Kathua district on Tuesday.
According to reports, the militants had sought drinking water from the villagers, who became suspicious and in turn raised an alarm, triggering a commotion.
A hostage situation had developed in the village with the two suspects taking refuge in a residence, according to unconfirmed reports.
However, Anand Jain, additional director general of police in Jammu, denied these reports.
Jain said that a civilian identified as Omkar Nath was injured in the attack on Tuesday evening. He added that Nath’s condition is reported to be stable, while one unidentified militant was gunned down when he tried to hurl a grenade at security forces.
A trooper identified as constable Kabir Das, a resident of Madhya Pradesh who joined the Central Reserve Paramilitary Force in 2011, was killed in the exchange of firing in Kathua.
Officials said that another unidentified militant was killed in a forested area near Koota Mode, in the Hiranagar sector along the international border in Jammu on Wednesday, adding that a US-made M4 carbine assault rifle and an AK-47 rifle were recovered from their possession.
“The area has been cordoned off and the operation is underway,” the officer said, adding that the two militants had freshly infiltrated the area from Pakistan.
Meanwhile, as the attack on Saida village was underway, another group of suspected militants fired gunshots at a makeshift checkpoint near an army base in the forested Chattargala area of Doda district at around 8 pm on Tuesday.
The attackers hurled grenades at a joint team of security forces, resulting in injuries to five army soldiers and a special police officer of the J&K police, following which they escaped into a nearby forested area.
The injured were taken to a hospital in Doda’s Bhaderwah region, from where they were shifted to the army’s Command Hospital at Udhampur.
A cordon and search operation is underway and all traffic moving to the scenic area, which is popular among tourists, has been stopped.
Meanwhile, a sketch of one of the perpetrators of Sunday’s attack on the pilgrims and who stood in the middle of the road while spraying the bus with gunshots has been prepared and circulated.
A reward of Rs 20 lakh has also been announced by the police for any information about him.
The three attacks have sparked a wave of anxiety and panic across the Pir Panjal and Chenab Valley regions of Jammu division, where militancy has taken fresh roots following the reading down of Article 370 by the Modi government on August 5, 2019.
Jammu, a political stronghold of the BJP that was largely militancy-free before 2019, has witnessed a spike in targeted attacks on security forces and civilians in the past five years, resulting in the killing of more than two dozen army soldiers and police personnel, while several civilians have also died.
On New Year’s Eve, four civilians were killed when unidentified militants swooped down on Dhangri village of Jammu’s Rajouri district. An IED explosion at the site of the attack resulted in the killing of two children.
