Srinagar: A former army soldier was killed and his wife and relative suffered injuries in a militant attack in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Monday (February 3).
A senior police officer said that the incident took place in Behibagh village of Kulgam where ex-serviceman Manzoor Ahmad Wagay was shot at a point blank range. His wife and her sister’s daughter were also injured in the attack.
The officer said that Wagay suffered injuries in the abdomen and his wife and her sister’s daughter were hit in the legs. The attackers, whose number was not immediately confirmed by the police, managed to escape from the area.
“The victims were taken to hospital where Wagay succumbed to injuries while his wife and the girl are stable,” the officer said, without divulging more details.
The incident took place close to an army camp in Behibagh which is one of the biggest security installations in south Kashmir. No militant outfit has yet claimed responsibility for the attack.
Following the incident, a spontaneous shutdown was observed in the area while a massive cordon and search operation was launched by security forces to hunt down the attackers which was underway when this report was filed.
Sources said Wagay was working with Ikhwan, a civil militia set up by the government in the early 1990s to counter insurgency in Kashmir. He had later joined the Territorial Army. It was not immediately known when he quit the army.
Wagay’s killing drew sharp condemnation from lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, chief minister Omar Abdullah and political parties of Jammu and Kashmir who expressed solidarity with the deceased’s family.
“I strongly condemn the heinous terrorist attack on Shri Manzoor Ahmad Wagay and his family in Kulgam. The entire nation stands in solidarity with the bereaved family in this hour of grief. I have instructed the officials to provide the best possible treatment to the injured. Praying for their speedy recovery. I assure the people that the perpetrators of this cowardly attack will be punished soon”, Sinha said.
In a post on X, Abdullah said: “Deeply saddened by the tragic killing of ex-serviceman Manzoor Ahmad Wagay Sahab in Kulgam. My heartfelt condolences to his family, and prayers for the swift recovery of his injured wife and daughter. Such heinous violence has no place in our society and must be condemned in the strongest terms. May peace and justice prevail”.
LeT vow
This is the first incident of killing of an unarmed civilian in the valley this year which took place days after the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) vowed to up the ante on security forces in Jammu and Kashmir.
A video, which circulated on social media, showed LeT deputy chief Saifullah Kasuri, claiming to a gathering purportedly in Pakistan-occupied Jammu and Kashmir that the “borders of Kashmir” will change and its operative will “intensify their attacks.”
On January 20, an army soldier was critically injured in a firefight in north Kashmir when security forces acting on specific inputs about a suspected militant hideout in Gujjarpati area of Zaloora came under fire from. militants.
The victim, Sepoy Pangala Kartheek, later succumbed to injuries at a military hospital in Srinagar while the operation was called off.
Following the reading down of Article 370 in 2019, new militant outfits like Peoples Anti-Fascist Front and The Resistance Front have burst on to the conflict scene who have launched a spate of attacks targeting armed forces, political workers and civilians in Jammu and Kashmir.
Security agencies believe that the two outfits comprising both local Kashmiri militant and foreigners are offshoots of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad and LeT terror outfits respectively and that the tactic was an attempt by Islamabad to disassociate itself from the ongoing terrorism in Jammu and Kashmir.
