Picture : Twitter/ ANI
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 of Rajouri Sunday evening, officials said.
This was the first such attack in the past many years in the otherwise peaceful Jammu region and coincided with the first day of the New Year.
Reactin to the attack, J&K LG Manoj Sinha after attending security meeting in Rajouri told ANI, Govt will provide families ex-gratia & jobs. A meeting for security was also held today & we have decided to reach the core & take action against the ones behind. Security measures will be taken to protect the area
Jammu & Kashmir | Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha visits the terror attack location at upper Dangri village in Rajouri district. pic.twitter.com/IpxJjRLK58
— ANI (@ANI) January 2, 2023
Additional Director General of Police, Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh said police, along with the Army and the CRPF, have launched a massive search operation to nab the two “armed men” behind the attack at Upper Dangri village, about eight kilometres from Rajouri town.
“Firing took place at three houses, separated at a distance of around 50 metres from each other. Two civilians have succumbed to injuries and four others are injured,” Singh said.
However, officials said two more injured civilians succumbed to injuries, taking the death toll to four.
Quoting eyewitnesses, the officials said two suspected terrorists appeared in the village around 7 pm and opened indiscriminate firing on three houses and fled.
“The firing ended within 10 minutes. First, they attacked a house in Upper Dangri and then they moved 25 meters away and shot several people there. They also fired on another house 25 meters away from the second house while fleeing the village,” an official said.
He said a total of 10 persons were hit by the bullets and three of them were declared brought dead at the Government Medical College hospital Rajouri, while another critically injured succumbed while being airlifted 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), the official said.
The injured have been identified as Pawan Kumar (38), Rohit Pandit (27), Saroj Bala (35), Ridham Sharma (17) and Pawan Kumar (32), he said.
Medical Superintendent of Government Medical College (GMC) Rajouri, Dr Mehmood H Bajar, confirmed the death of four persons in the firing and said among the injured, two were airlifted to Jammu for specialised treatment.
Meanwhile. asper ANI report, Locals in Jammu and Kashmir also staged a protest over the attack in Dhangri in Rajouri district on Sunday in which four villagers died of gunshots and at least six people were injured after gunmen fired indiscriminately on three houses of Hindu residents, separated around 50 metres apart.
Locals gathered at Main Chowk in the mountainside village of Dhangri, in Jammu division and raised slogans against police and district administration demanding that J-K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha to listen to their demands. The locals have also called for Rajouri Bandh as a protest against the administration.
“LG Manoj Sinha hosh mein aao” the protesters raised slogans. The district administration has failed. We want L-G Manoj Sinha to come and listen to our demands,” Dhiraj Sharma, the Sarpanch where the firing incident occurred said.
