Five Killed, Near Dozen Injured in Back to Back Attacks in Rajouri Village

Srinagar: A minor was killed and several others were injured in what appeared to be an IED blast at the same location where suspected militants on Sunday evening killed four civilians in a brazen attack at Dangri village of Rajouri district in Jammu sending shockwaves across the region. 

According to Jammu and Kashmir police, a blast was reported in one of the houses of the victims of yesterday’s attack in which a child was killed and another injured and four more persons received grievous injuries. The injured have been rushed to a nearby hospital for treatment.

The fresh casualty comes within 12 hours after militants carried out an attack in the locality targeting at least a dozen locals of the Dangri village. The firing incident was reported on Sunday evening around 7 pm in the village which is around 8 km from the main Rajouri town.

The incident led to the immediate death of at least three persons whilst ten others were critically injured. The police, security forces and the district administration rushed to the spot and initiated a manhunt to nab the killers, who had fled from the spot soon after the attack, many eye-witnesses said, in a private vehicle.

Dr Mehmood, the medical superintendent of Associated Hospital in Rajouri was quoted by various local news organisations stating that the victims had suffered “multiple bullet injuries” on their respective bodies suggesting indiscriminate firing. 

The victims of the firing incident were identified as Deepak Kumar, Satish Kumar, Pritam Lal and Shiv Pal – all residents of the Dangri locality. Those injured in the incident were identified as Pawan Kumar, Rohit Pandit, Saroj Bala, Sushil Kumar, Shub Sharma and Urvashi Sharma. 

Sources in the police said that the eye-witnesses had informed that the targets were chosen “selectively”. “It seems they have checked the identity cards of some of the victims before firing at them,” a security official informed the press.

This is the second incident where civilians were killed in Rajouri in a firing incident. Earlier, on December 16 two civilians were killed outside an army camp in the Pir Panjal district triggering day-long massive protests in the area. The locals blamed the forces of the military from the camp for the killings following which a probe was ordered into the incident.

Sunday’s attack is one of the major attacks against civilians in the region which has witnessed a surge in targeted violence against non-locals, members of the minority community and panchayat workers over the last two years.

The attack was widely condemned by a cross-section of people including political parties and civil society members. A group known as Sanatan Dharma Rajouri has called for a strike today against the targeted attack.