Hindu banker and labourer from India killed in Kashmir in wave of assassinations
- Rattled by the recent spate of killings, scores of Hindu families, including those from the minority Kashmiri Pandit communities, have begun fleeing Kashmir
- For 30 years, rebel groups have fought Indian soldiers deployed in the Muslim-majority territory, demanding independence for Kashmir or its merger with Pakistan
Assailants fatally shot a Hindu bank manager and a worker in targeted shootings in Indian-controlled Kashmir on Thursday, according to police who blamed the attacks on militants fighting against Indian rule of the disputed region.
Militants shot and wounded two Hindu workers at a brick factory near Chadoora town on Thursday night, Jammu-Kashmir police said in a statement. They were taken to a hospital, where one of the workers from India’s Bihar state died.
Earlier on Thursday, suspected militants shot and killed a bank manager, Vijay Kumar, in southern Kulgam district, a separate Jammu-Kashmir police statement said. Kumar, from India’s Rajasthan state, died at a hospital following the shooting.
CCTV footage circulating on social media shows a masked assailant walk into the bank and fire shots at Kumar with what appears to be a handgun.
Muslim-majority Kashmir has witnessed a spate of targeted killings in recent months. They come as Indian troops have continued their counter-insurgency operations across the region amid a clampdown on dissent and media freedom, which critics have likened to a militaristic policy.
