Srinagar, Dec 31 : At least 17 non-locals died and 33 sustained injuries in the year 2024.
The data available with the news agency Kashmir News Trust reveals that among the fatalities were two men from Punjab, Amritpal Singh and Rohit Mashi, who were shot dead by militants in Habba Kadal area of Srinagar. Similarly, in Bijbehara, Anantnag, militants killed a non-local vendor, Raja Shah Shankar, who had traveled from Bihar to Kashmir for a living. Another targeted killing occurred in South Kashmir’s Shopian district, where Ashok Chauhan, a laborer from Bihar, was shot dead in Wandana Malhora.
The deadliest attack took place in the Pouni area of Reasi district, Jammu, where a bus carrying pilgrims from Uttar Pradesh and Rajasthan was ambushed by suspected militants. Ten lives were lost in this assault as the bus made its way from Shiv Khori to Katra.
Another attack in Gagangeer, Ganderbal, claimed the lives of three non-local men—Gurmeet Singh, a resident of Gurdaspur in Punjab, and Muhammad Hanif and Muhammad Kaleem from Bihar.
In addition to the fatalities, there were numerous injuries reported in similar incidents. Among those wounded was Dilranan Jeet Singh, a cab driver from Dehradun, who was shot and injured in Shopian’s Borihalan village. In Anantnag’s Yannar area, a tourist couple from Jaipur, identified as Farha and Tabreez, sustained gunshot injuries in another militant attack.
The attack on the pilgrimage bus in Reasi, which left ten dead, also injured over two dozen passengers. In Gagangeer, five non-locals were wounded in the same attack that killed three others. Migrant workers Usman and Sufiyan, hailing from Saharanpur in Uttar Pradesh, were also among those injured during a militant strike in Mazhom Magam, Budgam. [KNT]
