The Kashmir Valley continues to see targeted killings despite the claims of improved security from the authorities. On Thursday morning, a bank manager from Rajasthan was shot and critically wounded by suspected militants in the southern Kulgam district. A police source said he died while he was being transported to the hospital.
According to local and police sources, Kumar, the head of Ellaquai Dehati Bank, a bank-sponsored by the State Bank of India, was targeted by gunmen at Arreh Mohanpora in Kulgam. A joint search operation by the J&K Police, the Army and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has been launched in the area to capture or kill the assailants.
“A massive manhunt has been launched for the terrorists who killed the bank manager,” said a police spokesman. In a separate incident earlier in the day on Thursday, three Army soldiers were injured, one of them critically, in a blast in an SUV being used by them for counterinsurgency operations in Shopian.
PK Pole, the Divisional Commissioner of Kashmir, said that 4,500 migrant workers have been posted in the district or municipal towns. “Last week, around 500 employees were transferred to the location of their choice according to their request”,” he said. “Other migrant employees may be posted at these locations based on their preference by Saturday.”
A similar attack occurred in the neighbouring Shopian district on Wednesday night, injuring Farooq Ahmed Sheikh. Rajini Bala, a Hindu schoolteacher in Kulgam’s Gopalpora area, was killed outside her school on May 31. Seven people, including three policemen and four civilians, were killed in the Valley in unabated targeted killings in May.