‘Hybrid militant’ involved in the attack arrested within hours

Anantnag: Two non-local labourers were killed in an explosion, caused by a hand grenade hurled into their rented accommodation by militants, late Monday night in Shopian district, the police said.
Police also said they arrested a “hybrid militant” allegedly involved in the attack within hours after the attack.
The incident came less than two days after a Kashmiri Pandit was shot at and killed in the south Kashmir district by militants. Pooran Kishan Bhat was shot dead outside his home in Choudhrygund village of the Shopian district.
The slain workers have been identified as Monish Kumar and Ram Sagar, both residents of Kannauj in Uttar Pradesh. “A hand grenade was hurled into their rented accommodation, in Harmain village, leaving the two of them injured. They were rushed to the hospital where both succumbed to their injuries,” Additional Director General of Police, Vijay Kumar, said.
He said that a “hybrid militant”, Imran Bashir Ganai, a resident of Harmain village has been arrested for carrying out the attack. “He had lobbed the grenade. Further investigation is going on,” Kumar said.
The incident took place at around half past midnight in Harmain village in the Shopian district. “The labourers lived in a rented tin shed. The grenade was lobbed into the shed and the explosion killed them both,” a senior police official from the Shopian district said.
He said that investigation has been intensified and further arrests are expected to be made. “Preliminary inputs suggest Lashkar-e-Toiba was behind the attack. Investigations are going on,” the official said.
The back-to-back attacks, which are in continuity to the earlier such attacks carried out across Kashmir valley, have created panic among the non-locals as well as Kashmiri Pandits.
Condemning the attack Lieutenant Governor, Manoj Sinha, has said that full freedom has been given to security forces, “to crush terrorists and the terrorist ecosystem,”
“Words cannot adequately condemn today’s barbaric terror attack. One terrorist has been arrested and the hunt is on for others,” Sinha has said.
Former Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah, called the attack unacceptable and indefensible while expressing condolences to the bereaved families.
His successor, Mehbooba Mufti of the PDP, expressed distress over the killings. “At the risk of sounding repetitive, there is no sense of security or dignity living in J&K. These issues will be resolved only when the GoI acknowledges that they exist,” Mehbooba said.
Another former Chief Minister and NC patron, Farooq Abdullah, had on Sunday said that the killings won’t stop until “justice” was served while he criticized the government of India for the abrogation of Article 370.

  BJP, Kashmir 370, PAGD

Suhail A Shah