At least seven people were killed on Sunday in a suspected terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir (J&K), an insurgency-hit region along India’s border with Pakistan.
According to media reports citing local police, two heavily armed militants opened fire at a camp housing infrastructure company workers building a tunnel near Gagangir on the Srinagar-Sonamarg road. The tunnel is seen as a critical infrastructure project aimed at making the local Sonamarg tourist resort an all-weather destination.
One of the victims was a local doctor, reports claimed, while others were construction workers from other Indian regions. At least five other people sustained injuries.
Media reports said the perpetrators fled the site of the attack. The area around the camp has been cordoned off by the army and police, who are currently searching for the suspected terrorists.
A police source told the Indian Express that the attack “was aimed at causing maximum casualties,” adding that the attackers appear to have been present at the site for “some time” and managed to burn two of the company’s vehicles.
Several senior political figures have condemned the attack, with J&K’s newly elected Chief Minister Omar Abdullah slamming it as a “dastardly and cowardly attack” in a post on X. Indian Minister of Internal Affairs Amit Shah called the incident a “despicable act of cowardice,” and vowed that those involved “will not be spared and will face the harshest response” from security forces. J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha noted that local security forces have been “given full freedom” to “ensure terrorists pay a very heavy price for their action.”
According to media reports, Sunday’s attack was the first of its kind against an infrastructural project in J&K. In the past, militants have not struck such targets in the region.
J&K has been a point of contention between India and Pakistan for decades, with both countries claiming it as their own. New Delhi has repeatedly accused Islamabad of supporting cross-border terrorism in the Muslim-majority area, while Islamabad has accused India of violating the humanitarian rights of the region’s residents.
Insurgent attacks in J&K intensified over the summer, ahead of first-in-a-decade local assembly elections, held earlier this month. Abdullah’s Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC), which is allied with the Indian National Congress – the main opposition party at the federal level – won a majority and formed a government. No major attacks were reported during the polling.