Four civilians were killed and six others injured when suspected terrorists opened fire on three houses of a particular community in a village in Jammu and Kashmir’s border district Rajouri on Sunday evening, officials said.
This was the first such attack in the last several years which happened on the first day of the new year itself. Additional Director General of Police, Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh said the police along with the Army and CRPF have launched a manhunt to nab the two ‘armed men’ behind the attack in Upper Dangri village near Rajouri town.
Officials said the terrorists entered the village around 7 pm, fired indiscriminately at three houses and fled.
“The firing ended within 10 minutes. First they attacked a house in Upper Dangri and then they went 25 meters away and shot many people there. While fleeing the village, they also fired at another house 25 meters away from the other house, an official said. A total of 10 persons received bullet injuries and three of them were declared brought dead at Government Medical College Hospital, Rajouri, while another seriously injured succumbed to his injuries while being taken to Jammu along with two other injured persons.
The deceased have been identified as Satish Kumar (45), Deepak Kumar (23), Pritam Lal (57) and Shishu Pal (32). Dangri sarpanch Diraj Kumar said that after a long time, targeted killings have taken place in the area. He termed the incident as a major lapse in security. He said that there was already apprehension of danger and searches were being conducted in some areas of the district. The incident triggered panic and a protest was held in the district on Monday with several organisations, including traders’ associations, calling for a general strike.
Additional deployment has been made in sensitive areas as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order, officials said. The incident comes barely two weeks after two civilians were killed in a firing incident outside an army camp in the town. While the army blamed unidentified terrorists for the killing of the two civilians going for work inside the camp, local villagers alleged that the two were killed by the sentry posted at the gate of the camp and demanded an impartial probe into the incident .
(With PTI inputs)
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