Militants target nomads now, kill five of a family

Senior police officers told The Indian Express that heavily armed militants barged into the house of Kesar Din, a member of the Village Defence Committee, and asked for food. After eating, they tortured the family and later shot them dead. The deceased included Kesar Din (30), his wife Rakiya Begum (26) and children, Mohammad Khan (13), Raj Hussain (8) and Mohammad Shakeel (5). Before fleeing, they also set the house afire.

As the area is far from Rajouri town, police and security forces came to know about the massacre this morning only. However, when they reached the site in the afternoon, there was still heavy movement of militants in adjoining areas. Rajouri SSP P.R. Manhas has asked for reinforcements in view of the militant movement.

Sources said after the troops were withdrawn from there nearly two months ago, there hasn’t been much presence of police or security forces at Keri Khwas and adjoining areas of Kot Chadwal, Dhakki Kot, Prankot, Chawni and Lambi Bari (all in adjoining Udhampur district).

In the past one month, as police and security forces achieved success in their counter-insurgency operations in the twin border districts of Rajouri and Poonch, Muslim nomads have become the main targets of militants.

The main reason for this being the tribals refusing to cooperate with militants. Sources added that nearly half a dozen top militant commanders from Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) and Harkat-ul-Jehad-i-Islami (HUJI) have been killed in Rajouri district alone on information provided by locals during the past one week.

Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed has condemned the massacre saying it was a ‘‘deliberate attempt on the part of militants to vitiate the peace that had taken over the state.’’ He has asked the law enforcing agencies to take on the perpetrators of violence.