The Wire Staff 
Srinagar: In the second such targeted attack within a fortnight in the Jammu division, two civilians working as Village Defence Guards in Kishtwar district of Chenab valley were abducted and killed by suspected militants a day ago, November 7.
Reports said that the victims identified as Nazir Ahmad and Kuldeep Kumar had gone to the forests in the higher reaches of Kuntwara in Chatroo tehsil of Kishtwar along with their livestock on Thursday morning, informing their families that they would return by evening.
The hilly tehsil falls on the border between Kishtwar district in Jammu and Anantnag in Kashmir and it has witnessed an uptick in militant activity from the past few months. Two army soldiers were killed on September 14 while exchanges of fire between militants and security forces were reported at least twice during the recent assembly election in the tehsil.
When the two victims did not return home in Ohli Kuntwara village on Thursday evening, their families unsuccessfully attempted to reach them on their mobile phones. Before they could contact the police, suspected militants released a graphic photo on social media, showing the bloodied bodies of the two.
Speaking with the PTI news agency, Prithvi Kumar, brother of one of the slain Village Defence Guards or VDGs, said that his family received information from the police that his brother was abducted and killed by suspected militants. “They had gone to graze cattle as usual,” he told the news agency.
Kashmir Tigers (KT) which is believed by officials to be an offshoot of the proscribed Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad outfit claimed responsibility for the killings.
KT is one of the many new militant organisations that have sprung on J&K’s conflict-ridden landscape since 2019 when the Union government read down Article 370 and bifurcated J&K into two union territories.
The photo showed blood oozing from the mouths, noses and heads of both the victims. Ahmad seemed to be gagged with a strip of cloth tied tightly around his skull while Kumar seemed to be blindfolded, ostensibly before being killed. Both the victims had their arms tied behind their backs.
The killings have revived the memories of 2018 when BJP leader Anil Parihar and his brother Ajeet were shot dead, sparking massive protests in the communally-sensitive district which had witnessed clashes and riots in the past between the Hindus and the Muslims.
The slain BJP leader’s daughter, Shagun Parihar, successfully contested the assembly election from Kishtwar assembly constituency on the BJP ticket.
Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha, chief minister Omar Abdullah, former Union minister Farooq Abdullah and other political leaders in Jammu and Kashmir condemned the killings which took place nine days after militants unsuccessfully ambushed an army ambulance in Jammu’s Battal area on October 29.
All the three militants involved in the failed ambush had recently infiltrated into Jammu from Akhnoor sector along the Line of Control and they were gunned down in an anti-insurgency operation which lasted for more than 15 hours in the area.
An army dog identified as Phantom was also injured in the encounter. The canine later succumbed to its injuries.
The killings in Kishtwar took place days after security forces gunned down Arbaz Mir, an operational commander of Peoples Anti Fascist Front (PAFF), in an encounter in Anantnag. A top militant commander, Usman Bhai, who was affiliated with Lashkar-e-Toiba and hailed from Pakistan, was gunned down on the same day in another encounter in the capital Srinagar.
Security forces had dubbed the killings as a major setback for the Lashkar and the PAFF, another suspected Jaish offshoot, which has inflicted a series of lethal blows on armed forces in Pir Panjal region of Jammu since 2021.
The tragedy in Kishtwar unfolded four days after a grenade explosion in Srinagar resulted in injuries to at least a dozen civilians and it was the seventh such attack in Jammu and Kashmir after chief minister Omar Abdullah was sworn into office earlier this month in which civilians seemed to be the intended targets.
On November 1, two migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh’s Saharanpur district suffered firearm injuries when suspected militants fired at them in the Magam area of Budgam district.
On October 24, two army soldiers and two civilian porters were gunned down when suspected militants ambushed an army truck in the north Kashmir ski resort of Gulmarg in one of the deadliest attacks on security forces since the Abdullah-led government came to office. Three more soldiers were wounded in the attack.
According to official data, close to two dozen civilians, security personnel and militants have been killed in targeted attacks and anti-insurgency operations after the Abdullah government assumed office. These incidents have been reported from south, central and north Kashmir as well as in the Jammu division, indicating the widespread presence of militants in the Union territory.