Safety forces on Friday recovered the our bodies of two village defence guards (VDG) a day after they have been kidnapped and shot useless by terrorists within the Kishtwar district of Jammu amid protests, shutdown, and outrage over the killings.
Members of the family of Village Defence Guard (VDG) Nazir Ahmad mourn after he was killed by militants, in Kishtwar. (PTI)
Officers, in the meantime, stated that safety forces have been conducting a large cordon-and-search operation in Kishtwar and utilizing drones, sniffer canine and helicopters to trace the terrorists behind the killings.
On Thursday morning, Nazir Ahmad and Kuldeep 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, Central Reserve Police Drive (CRPF), and 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 people are joining the VDGs… They should learn from today’s incident and not be a part of VDGs. Otherwise, they will also meet the same fate,” the phobia group stated in a letter, because it additionally shared a photograph of the our bodies of the 2 blindfolded males.
Shortly after the 2 went lacking, safety forces discovered their our bodies close to a rivulet within the Pondgwari space.
“The bodies of the two VDGs have been recovered from the jungle by a team of police and army,” Anand Jain, Jammu’s extra director common of police (ADGP), stated.
A Jammu and Kashmir Police officer stated the forces have been shifting cautiously as they might not rule out the opportunity of the our bodies being booby-trapped. “It took nearly six hours for the security forces to trek the hilly terrain from the nearest road to reach the upper reaches of Ohli Kuntwara where the terrorists killed the two men in a jungle. The bodies are being brought back and will be taken to their respective houses,” the officer stated on situation of anonymity.
VDGs have been first floated within the 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 accountability 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 keeping with the most recent official figures.
The killings of the 2 males got here towards 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 building website camp within the Ganderbal district of the Valley.
“Deeply saddened & concerned by the attack that resulted in the deaths of Kuldeep Kumar & Nazeer Ahmed Padder of Kuntwara in Kishtwar, members of the local village defence committee. The terrorists killed two innocent men who had taken their livestock to graze. I condemn this attack unequivocally & send my condolences to the families. At the same time, I expect the security forces to move quickly to plug any gaps in our counter-terror grid & ensure that attacks like this stop completely,” J&Okay chief minister Omar Abdullah stated in a submit on X.
Bharatiya Janata Social gathering (BJP) nationwide common secretary Tarun Chugh referred to as the killings an “attack on humanity”. “It is not just an attack on innocent lives but also on humanity. We will face such people firmly, and we have full faith in the security 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 kind of incident has not happened in this area for a long time. The victims were grazing their cattle when terrorists kidnapped and killed them. This is an act of cowardice. We cannot tolerate this. The people stand firmly against terrorism. We demand a massive operation to eliminate the terrorists involved in this act,” Kuldeep Singh, a resident of Drabshalla village, stated.