Jammu, July 13
Terrorists massacred five members of one community at two places in the Jammu division today. Four persons, including two girls, were shot dead at Magnar village in Poonch.
Among the killed were three children, including two sisters. A child and her mother were wounded due to indiscriminate firing by the terrorists inside their house.
Reports said terrorists of the Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit kidnapped Amir Chand, a member of the village defence committee, near Bhaderwah in Doda district and mercilessly tortured him to death.
The terrorists raided two houses in Magnar village in the wee hours and fired indiscriminately at the inmates. While two daughters of Mangat Ram Sharma were killed in one house, two sons of Ashok Kumar lost their lives in the other house. Sharma’s third daughter, Damini (5), was flown here this afternoon for treatment in the medical college and hospital.
Residents, who carried the bodies of those killed in Magnar hamlet today, including two girls, blocked traffic and demanded the Army set up a picket in the village.
They claimed that CRPF personnel at their post a km away from the village had not acted swiftly. They threatened to migrate to Poonch town if security was not provided to them.
After a four-hour sit-in, they dispersed after authorities promised to look into their demands.
Meanwhile, the All Party Migrant Coordination Committee (APMCC) condemned the attack and demanded that Army pickets be set up at all places having Hindus in the Jammu region.
The terrorists first attacked the house of Mangat Ram and thereafter targeted the inmates in the house of Ashok Kumar. There were reports that the militants knocked the doors of some more houses, but the inmates did not come out.
Col D.K. Badola of the 16 Corps of the Army said the terrorists fired at the
victims from the windows as the doors were not opened by the inmates. This village with a population of about 3,500 has a majority of Hindus and Sikhs, which could be one of the reasons why the terrorists chose to attack it. The Army, the CRPF and the police have launched a joint combing operation in the area. The security forces were searching every household in the neighbouring villages of Kanaria, Dara-Dulian and Chalas.
Srinagar: Chief Minister Ghulam Nabi Azad has expressed shock over the killing of four persons by militants in Poonch. The Chief Minister said this killing spree of innocent people by militants was a clear proof that days of militancy were numbered and in the process of frustration they were killing innocent civilians.
He said people of the state were now openly condemning these kinds of human rights violations by militants and now people were so angry that they were chasing the militants, catching hold of them and handing them over to the police.
