Anantnag: Two non-locals, one from Nepal and another from Bihar, were shot at and injured Thursday evening here Anantnag district of South Kashmir, the police said.
“The identities of the two are being ascertained,” a senior police official from Anantnag said, adding that both the injured worked at a private school. Preliminary reports suggested that the name of the school they worked at was SAPS International.
“They are being treated at Government Medical College (GMC) Anantnag, and are stable,” the police official said.
The incident took place at about 6:30 Thursday evening in the Bondialgam area of Anantnag district, around 6 Kilometres from the district headquarters. “They were out to buy some essentials when militants opened fire at them, leaving them injured,” the police official said.
He said that the area was immediately cordoned off and a search operation was launched to try and nab the attackers. “We have registered a case and an investigation has been taken up in this matter,” the official said.
Attacks on non-locals have been rampant since the abrogation of article-370 in August 2019. These attacks have not remained confined to just non-locals, but Kashmiri Pandits have had to bear the brunt as well.
Recently, most of the attacks on non-locals have taken place in the Pulwama district of South Kashmir.
As per the central government, more than 120 civilians have been killed in attacks, since August 2019. Last year 49 such killings took place in Kashmir valley, while this year more than 25 people have already been killed by unidentified gunmen.
The forces, on the other hand, have intensified operations against militants in different parts of Kashmir valley leaving over 140 militants dead this year.

  Kashmir 370

Suhail A Shah