Jammu, August 28
Militants killed two priests in a temple last night and shot dead five members of a trader’s family early this morning in the Surankot area of Poonch.

Indefinite curfew restrictions were clamped on Poonch and adjoining Surankot towns today when breezy violence broke out following the killing of the priests.

The police said the curfew restrictions were imposed in Poonch when a section of demonstrators, protesting against the killing of the two Hindu priests, stoned shops owned by a particular community. Within minutes of the news about the killing reaching the town, a complete hartal was observed. The two priests killed are Narotam Das and Devi Das.

According to the police, unidentified rebels barged into the ancient Kali Mandir in the Surankot area and slit the throat of the two priests. One of the priests had come from the Sunderbani area of Rajouri to spend the night in Kali Mandir with his friend priest. When villagers visited the temple in the morning, they found the two priests in a pool of blood and dead. Police forces were rushed to the area to check violence.

Additional companies of security forces were deployed to enforce the curfew restrictions in Poonch town. The troops carried out a flag march to convey to the people that they would get a stern treatment if they tried to defy the curfew restrictions.

The Senior Superintendent of Police, Poonch, Dr Kamal Saini, said the police suspected the hand of foreign mercenaries in the killing of the two innocent priests. He said these mercenaries were under pressure after the security forces eliminated more than 160 militants in Poonch district alone during the past two months.

Dr Saini said the mercenaries were trying to kill innocent people to kick up communal trouble. He said the security forces had launched a massive search operation and hoped that the killers would be tracked down as was the case with those who had attacked a police station in Poonch last week in which seven policemen were killed.

He said the situation was tense but under control. In another incident, two civilians, including a Nambardar of Pamrot village were killed by militants in the Surankot area early this morning. The police said gunmen swooped on the hamlet and gunned down two innocent Muslims.

Militants killed five members of the family of a trader, Basharat, at Hari Marot village in the Surankot area of Poonch early this morning.

The police said a group of militants barged into the house of Basharat, who was away to Surankot, and opened fire, killing his father, mother, wife and two children.

After carrying out the massacre, the militants fled from the scene. Villagers rushed out of their houses to find out as to what had happened. They found five bodies in a pool of blood and informed the police.

The police said during the past 12 hours nine civilians were killed by militants in the Surankot area of Poonch.

What has intrigued villagers is the way the militants were able to sneak into Kali Mandir in Surankot and kill two priests when a security picket was just a few metres away from the temple. Either the militants appeared near the temple in Army uniform or there was no guard on duty at the security picket.

SRINAGAR: In a major success, the security forces killed foreign mercenary Abu Usman, brain behind the attack on a helicopter carrying Union Minister of State for External Affairs Omar Abdullah, in the frontier district of Kupwara last night, a police spokesman said here.

The police said there was no serious case of violence and only some stray cases of stoning and deflating of tyres were reported from some areas. Policemen in large numbers were deployed on the roads to prevent any untoward incidents.

Most of the schools, especially those dependent on contract buses, remained closed in view of the strike. Most of the schools have taken CNG buses on contract after the Supreme Court order.

Office goers and college students faced a harrowing experience as only DTC buses running on the State Transport Authority permits and a few hundred buses of rival union were on the roads. The buses were overcrowded in the morning. There was huge rush of commuters at local bus stands. Most of the people reached their offices late due to the non-availability of alternate transport.

Union Home Minister L. K. Advani, with his Cabinet colleagues, having a discussion with Delhi MPs on the CNG crisis in New Delhi on Tuesday. — PTI photo

He said there were a total of 12,000 buses in the Capital. Of them 6,500 buses were listed with them and all these buses were off the roads today. Other bus operator unions also supported the strike and kept their buses off the roads.