Srinagar: Five migrant labourers from West Bengal were shot dead and another critically injured after militants attacked them in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Tuesday evening, police said. Three others are also reported to be missing.
All the victims hailed from Murshidabad district of West Bengal, said the police.
The injured labourer was identified as Zahuruddin, a daily wager from West Bengal. He was in his rented residence in Katrasoo village when he was attacked. He has been admitted to a hospital and stated to be out of danger, they said.
The attack happened on a day a delegation of parliamentarians from the European Union is visiting Kashmir to talk to locals and ask them about their experience after the abrogation of Jammu and Kashmir’s special status under Article 370 on August 5.
Since the Centre’s decision on Article 370, terrorists have been targeting truckers and labourers, mainly who have come to the Valley from outside Kashmir.
On Monday, a trucker from Udhampur district was killed by militants in Anantnag, police said. This was the fourth truck driver to be killed by militants since August 5.
On October 24, militants killed two non-Kashmiri truck drivers in Shopian district.
On October 14, two militants, including a suspected Pakistani national, shot dead the driver of a truck having Rajasthan registration number and assaulted an orchard owner in Shopian district. The driver was identified as Sharief Khan.
Two days later, Punjab-based apple trader Charanjeet Singh was killed and Sanjeev injured when terrorists attacked them in Shopian district.
The same day, a brick kiln worker from Chhattisgarh was shot dead by militants in Pulwama district.
(With inputs from PTI)
