Third such incident in Pulwama district in less than a month’s period

Anantnag: Two non-local labourers from Punjab were shot at and injured by unidentified gunmen late Sunday evening here in Pulwama district of south Kashmir.
The injured men have been identified as Surinder Singh, son of Bhishen Singh, and Dheeraj Dutt, son of Susheel Dutt, both residents of Pathankot area of Punjab.
“Singh has a bullet injury to the left side of his chest, and has been shifted to SMHS hospital for further treatment,” a health official from Pulwama said.
He said that Dutt has bullet wounds to both his legs and has been also shifted to a Srinagar hospital for further treatment.
“They have grievous bullet wounds but are stable,” the health official said.
The incident took place in Nowpora, Lassipora area of Pulwma district where the two non-locals were walking back from work.
“They were intercepted by unidentified militants and injured seriously,” a senior police official from the area said.
He said that the two of them were immediately evacuated to the hospital and have been shifted to Srinagar for specialised treatment.
Soon after the shootout a contingent of armed forces reached the area and cordoned it off in a bid to try and nab the attackers.
“They have managed to flee for now but a case has been registered into the incident and further investigation has been taken up,” the official said.
Such attacks on non-locals have picked pace in the month of March, and have now trickled into April as well.
Today’s incident is the third such here in Pulwama district in less than a month’s time, even as the police have been maintaining that number of militants was on an all-time low in Kashmir.

Suhail A Shah