Safety forces on Friday recovered the our bodies of two village defence guards (VDG) a day after they have been kidnapped and shot lifeless by terrorists within the Kishtwar district of Jammu amid protests, shutdown, and outrage over the killings.
On Thursday morning, 45-year-old Nazir Ahmad and 33-year-oldKuldeep Kumar, each residents of Ohli-Kuntwara village, took their cattle for grazing within the Munzla Dhar forest. They didn’t return until late night, prompting a joint search operation by the military, the Central Reserve Police Pressure (CRPF), and the state police.
Amid the frantic search, Kashmir Tigers, an offshoot of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM), stated that it had kidnapped and killed the 2 males.
“Some ignorant individuals are becoming a member of the VDGs… They need to study from right this moment’s incident and never be part of VDGs. In any other case, they will even meet the identical destiny,” the fear group stated in a letter, because it additionally shared a photograph of the our bodies of the 2 blindfolded males.
Near 24 hours after the 2 went lacking, safety forces discovered their our bodies close to a rivulet within the Pondgwari space.
“The our bodies of the 2 VDGs have been recovered from the jungle by a workforce of police and military,” Anand Jain, Jammu’s extra director common of police (ADGP), stated.
A J&Okay Police officer stated the forces have been transferring cautiously as they may not rule out the opportunity of the our bodies being booby-trapped. “It took practically six hours for the safety forces to trek the hilly terrain from the closest highway to succeed in the higher reaches of Ohli Kuntwara the place the terrorists killed the 2 males in a jungle. The our bodies are being introduced again and can be taken to their respective homes,” the officer stated on situation of anonymity.
Households quotes
VDGs have been first floated within the Nineteen Nineties through the peak of militancy within the restive area. They have been disbanded in 2000 however revived in August 2022 within the wake of a sequence of assaults within the UT. The CRPF was given the duty to offer arms coaching to VDGs, consisting of native village volunteers and cops, in an try to counter terror assaults of their areas. There are 4,125 VDGs within the UT, in response to the newest official figures.
The killings of the 2 males got here in opposition to the backdrop of a string of terror strikes and encounters in J&Okay after its first elected authorities because the revocation of Article 370 in 2019 was sworn in on October 16. On Sunday, 12 civilians have been injured after terrorists lobbed a grenade in a busy Srinagar market. A day earlier, three terrorists, together with a high Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) commander, have been killed after parallel encounters broke out in Anantnag and Srinagar. It was the primary main gunbattle between terrorists and forces in Srinagar in two years. On October 24, two troopers and two civilian porters have been killed after terrorists ambushed a military convoy within the Baramulla district of Kashmir. 4 days earlier than that, seven individuals have been killed when terrorists opened hearth on a development website camp within the Ganderbal district of the Valley.
“Deeply saddened & involved by the assault that resulted within the deaths of Kuldeep Kumar & Nazeer Ahmed Padder of Kuntwara in Kishtwar, members of the native village defence committee. The terrorists killed two harmless males who had taken their livestock to graze. I condemn this assault unequivocally & ship my condolences to the households. On the similar time, I count on the safety forces to maneuver rapidly to plug any gaps in our counterterror grid & make sure that assaults like this cease utterly,” J&Okay chief minister Omar Abdullah stated in a put up on X.
Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) nationwide common secretary Tarun Chugh referred to as the killings an “assault on humanity”. “It’s not simply an assault on harmless lives but in addition on humanity. We’ll face such individuals firmly, and we have now full religion within the safety forces,” he stated.
Ahmad and Kumar’s killings triggered protests throughout Jammu and a whole shutdown in Kishtwar as enterprise institutions largely remained closed.
“This type of incident has not occurred on this space for a very long time. The victims have been grazing their cattle when terrorists kidnapped and killed them. That is an act of cowardice. We can’t tolerate this. The individuals stand firmly in opposition to terrorism. We demand an enormous operation to get rid of the terrorists concerned on this act,” Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Drabshalla village, stated.
Officers stated that safety forces have been conducting an enormous cordon-and-search operation in Kishtwar and utilizing drones, sniffer canine and helicopters to trace the terrorists behind the killings.
This 12 months, 15 safety personnel, 10 civilians and three VDGs have died in separate assaults in Jammu. Safety forces have gunned down 13 terrorists within the area. In Kashmir, 9 personnel and 15 civilians have died in terror assaults. Safety forces have killed 24 terrorists within the Valley in the identical interval.
