The militants who opened fire at a camp housing workers of an infrastructure company near Sonamarg on the Srinagar-Leh national highway in J&K were heavily armed and aimed to cause maximum casualties, police sources said. Seven employees of the company, which is building the Z-Morh tunnel near Gagangir on the Srinagar-Sonamarg road, were killed in the firing. The victims were identified as Faheem Nasir from Bihar, Anil Shukhla from Madhya Pradesh, Dr Shahnawaz from Bidgam in Kashmir, Mohammad Hanif from Bihar, Kaleem from Bihar, Sashi Abrol from Jammu, and Gurmeet Singh from Punjab. There were at least two militants who turned up and opened fire indiscriminately at several parts of the camp the employees were staying in, including the mess, sources said. "It seems they (militants) were heavily armed and were at the camp office for quite a good amount of time," a police officer said. "From what we hear from the workers, it seems the attack was aimed at causing maximum casualties.” Police sources said a team from the National Investigation Agency (NIA) has arrived at the scene for forensic analysis. They said the NIA is most likely to take over the probe of the attack. This is the first major attack on an infrastructural project in Jammu and Kashmir. In the past, militants have not targeted big infrastructure projects.
