Srinagar: At least six migrant workers and a doctor were killed on Sunday night in India’s Kashmir region when militants opened fire near a tunnel construction site, according to local officials. The attack occurred just days after a new government was formed in the region, following its first elections in a decade. The elections were also the first since the revocation of Kashmir’s special status and its division into two federally administered territories—Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
The victims of Sunday’s attack were working on the construction of tunnels intended to provide all-weather connectivity to the strategically important Ladakh region, which borders China and Pakistan.
“At least two armed militants barged into the mess of the private construction company and fired at workers who were dining at the time of the attack,” a senior police officer, speaking anonymously, said. Six workers and a doctor lost their lives, while five others were injured in the assault.
Non-Kashmiri migrant workers, often employed in Kashmir’s orchards, paddy fields, and construction sites, have been repeatedly targeted by militant groups seeking to drive them away from the region. Sunday’s attack highlights the ongoing threat to migrant workers in Kashmir, particularly as militants attempt to disrupt the region’s fragile security.
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India’s Interior Minister Amit Shah condemned the attack, describing it as a “despicable act of cowardice.” He stated in a post on X (formerly Twitter): “Those involved in this heinous act will not be spared and will face the harshest response from our security forces.”
The Kashmir region has been a source of tension for decades, claimed by both India and Pakistan but controlled in part by each. Militant groups in India-administered Kashmir have fought against Indian security forces, leading to thousands of deaths over the years.
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Last week, in another instance of violence, the bullet-riddled body of a laborer from Bihar was discovered in Kashmir’s Shopian region. Additionally, at least nine Indian soldiers were killed in two separate attacks by suspected militants in July, just weeks after Prime Minister Narendra Modi began his third consecutive term in office.
