Tuesday, Mar 25, 2003
Tuesday, Mar 25, 2003 |
| Front Page | ||
|
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
Advts: Classifieds | Employment | Obituary | Front Page
By Shujaat Bukhari
The victims of Monday's militant attack at Nadimarg.
The dead included 11 women and two children. The killings were widely mourned and the State Government has ordered an inquiry. Eyewitnesses said the gunmen overpowered the policemen posted at the security picket in the village, took away four self-loading rifles, three .303 rifles, a carbine and a wireless set before targeting the civilians. A visibly shaken Chief Minister, Mufti Mohammad Sayeed, who rushed to the village condemned the killings and said that, "it is aimed at derailing our peace process but we are committed to go ahead. This is a barbaric act." At the same he said, "I cannot be acquitted in this but such incidents have taken place in the past as well". PTI reports: The militants, whose number varied from seven to 25, asked the villagers to line up for an identification parade on a lawn before opening indiscriminate fire from automatic weapons killing 24 persons on the spot. A survivor, Ramesh Kaul, said the militants claimed they were Army personnel looking for ultras. They went about ransacking houses searching for valuables and cash before lining up the people, said Mr. Kaul, who managed to flee to the nearby Zainapora police station for help. Security around the village has been beefed up and a hunt launched to nab the militants. No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the killings in the Shopian area where outfits such as the Lashkar-e-Taiba, the Jaish-e-Mohammad and the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen are said to be active. Four of the nine policemen posted at the village reported at the Zainapora police station in the morning, while the rest were missing with no clues to their whereabouts, officials said. However, the villagers contradicted the official version saying only five cops were posted at the picket. Twelve villagers, engaged in the fruit business, were not present at the time of the incident. The incident, the first major strike in the Valley after the Mufti Government came to power in November last year, took place at a time when the Government was trying to persuade Kashmiri Pandits to return to the their homeland. It also came a day after the killing of the former Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander, Abdul Majid Dar.
Printer friendly
page
News:
Front Page |
National |
Southern States |
Other States |
International |
Opinion |
Business |
Sport |
Miscellaneous |
|
|
|
The Hindu Group: Home | About Us | Copyright | Archives | Contacts | Subscription Group Sites: The Hindu | Business Line | The Sportstar | Frontline | The Hindu eBooks | Home |
Copyright © 2003, The
Hindu. Republication or redissemination of the contents of
this screen are expressly prohibited without the written consent of
The Hindu
|
