In Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri, terrorists barged into homes of civilians and killed four Hindus after confirming their identity through their Aadhaar cards, sources have said. 

Upendra Bharti | HENB | Jammu | Jan 2, 2023:: Four Hindu civilians were killed after Jihadi gunmen barged into the houses of a particular community in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri on Sunday.

Sources have revealed that two terrorists were involved in the attack.

The incident took place at nearly 7 pm, when the two Jihadi militants made their way through the forests and barged into three houses of the Hindu community, they said. Such terrorist activities in the valley have been supported by the Pakistani Intelligence agencies like ISI and Islamist outfits like Lashkar e Taiba or Hizbul Mujahideen, for a long time.

The terrorists opened fire at those residing inside.

Sources said the terrorists had first confirmed the Hindu identity of the victims, through their Aadhaar cards and killed them mercilessly.

The attack 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.

Commenting on the attack, an official said, “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.”

He said a total of 10 people were hit by bullets and three of them were declared brought dead at the Government Medical College hospital, Rajouri.

Another critically injured civilian succumbed while he was 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.

Deeraj Kumar, sarpanch of Dangri, said gunshots were heard around 7 pm and after some time their intensity increased.

Later, I received calls that there was firing by terrorists, he added.

Additional Director General of Police, Jammu Zone, Mukesh Singh, said police, along with the Army and the CRPF, launched a massive search operation to nab the two armed men behind the attack at Upper Dangri village, about eight kilometres from Rajouri town.

PROTESTS IN RAJOURI

The terror attack caused panic and protests were held with several organisations including traders’ bodies calling for a general strike in the Rajouri district on Monday.

Additional deployments have been made in sensitive areas as a precautionary measure to maintain law and order, officials said.

The protesting residents of the affected locality demanded more security for the people and guns for village guard teams for their own safety.

A MINOR GIRL WAS ALSO KILLED IN IED BLAST

Another source said that the attackers also successfully detonated an IED  near the firing site which caused a blast and killed two including a minor girl.

“During the explosion, a child about 7 years of age died on the spot while six others were injured in the incident,” officials had said.

PROTEST IN JAMMU

Condemning the attack on Hindus in Rajouri, some Hindu organisations in Jammu took the streets to protest such Jihadi upsurge in the state in recent times.

Read this news in Hindi: राजौरी में आतंकियों ने जहां कल 4 लोगों की ली थी जान, उसी घर के पास IED ब्लास्ट, 2 की मौत

Read this news in Bengali: রাজৌরি হামলায় ইসলামিক সন্ত্রাসীরা হিন্দুদের বাড়িতে ঢুকে, শনাক্ত করার পর গুলি চালায়, নাবালিকাসহ ৬ জন নিহত

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__Inputs from Agencies.