Srinagar: A 44-year-old man who was shot by unidentified gunmen in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district succumbed at a hospital in Srinagar on Sunday (27 April), officials said.

The shootout took place four days after the Pahalgam terror attack and two days after a family alleged that their son, who was described by police as a “militant associate”, was killed in a fake encounter in Bandipora.   

Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir are on a high alert following the carnage in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam where 25 Hindu civilians were killed by a group of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba militants on April 22. 

A Kashmiri Muslim youngster, who reportedly tried to save a female tourist, was also shot and killed.

In the latest incident, a family member said that the deceased identified as Ghulam Rasool Magray was dragged out of his home in Kani Khas village of Kupwara on Saturday night by unidentified gunmen and shot barely a few metres away outside the residence.

Locals said that the deceased’s mother, who is believed to be suffering from some ailment in her eyes, was the only other person present at the single-storied house when the gunmen struck on Saturday night.

“A group of unknown gunmen barged into the house at around 10:45 pm, saying that they had to carry out searches. Then the gunmen brought him out and shot him here,” the victim’s brother, whose name was not immediately known, told local reporters.

Following the shooting, the assailants, whose number was not known, fled from the area while the victim was rushed to Government Medical College in Handwara from where he was referred to Srinagar in a serious condition.

“He had suffered critical injuries in the abdomen and succumbed today,” said a doctor at Srinagar’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, where the victim was undergoing treatment.   

A pall of gloom descended on the village of Kani Khas as the news of Magray’s death spread on Sunday morning. The family was waiting for the mortal remains of the deceased when this report was filed. 

Some residents told local media that Magray, a bachelor, was suffering from some psychological problem due to which he was unable to find a marital match. The victim worked as a daily wage labourer and lived in the house along with his mother.

According to reports, Magray’s brother owns a separate house where he lives along with his family. It was not clear whether there are more members of the bereaved family.  Senior superintendent of police (Kupwara), Ghulam Jeelani Wani, refused to share details about the incident. 

Member of J&K legislative assembly Handwara, Khursheed Ahmad Sheikh, who visited the bereaved family on Sunday morning, accused J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah of showing apathy towards the victim’s family while referring to the Pahalgam terror attack.

“A human being and the lone support of a blind mother has been killed but no one from the administration has bothered to visit them. The concerned investigation officer is with the body. The same mistake was committed in Pahalgam. I have been here for two hours but no one seems interested in hunting down the attackers,” Sheikh said. 

He added, “Is he (Omar) trying to convey a message that only the killings in Pahalgam were important for him and that the death of a Kashmiri civilian doesn’t matter?”  

Abdullah had visited the family of horse attendant Syed Adil Shah, the only Kashmiri civilian killed in the Pahalgam terror attack, and offered condolences with his family. 

Raising slogans against the perpetrators, Sheikh called for a speedy probe into Magray’s killing while demanding compensation for the victim’s family during a protest in the village which was also attended by locals. 

Earlier, the family of Altaf Lali who was killed during an encounter in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district on Friday alleged that he was detained by police from his home two days before the incident happened. 

Lali is brother of Hizbul Mujahideen militant Talib Lali who is languishing in a jail for more than a decade. Protest had erupted in his native Ajas village against the alleged fake encounter and the police had resorted to teargas shelling to disperse the protesters.

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