J&K: Civilian Killed in Gunfight Between Security Forces & Terrorists in Pulwama

The injured civilian was taken to the district hospital in Pulwama but succumbed to his injuries, the police said.

A civilian was killed in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, 15 May, during an exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists, police said.

Photo: Accessed by The Quint

A civilian was killed in the Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, 15 May, during an exchange of fire between security forces and terrorists, police said.

The police said that terrorists fired upon a joint patrol party of the CRPF and the police near a bridge connecting Litter Pulwama with Turkwangam in Shopian. However, during the exchange of fire, a civilian named Shoib Ah Ganie of Turkwangam was injured.

The injured civilian was then taken to the district hospital in Pulwama for treatment but succumbed to his injuries, the police informed.

However, the terrorists, after a brief encounter, managed to slip away into the nearby orchards, the police added.

A case has been registered, and a search for the terrorists is currently going on.

Security To Be Increased for Kashmiri Pandit Govt Employees

Meanwhile, J&K Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha on Sunday announced that security would be increased in the residential areas in the Valley where government Kashmiri Pandit employees reside.

On 12 May, Rahul Bhat, an employee at the Tehsildar's Office in Jammu and Kashmir's Budgam district, succumbed to his wounds after he was injured during a shooting.

Massive protests by Kashmiri Pandits erupted in various parts of Jammu and Kashmir on the night of 12 May. The protesters, including government officers and their families, demanded that the Lieutenant Governor's administration ensure that their community was safe in the Valley.

Tear gas was used to disperse the protesters.

Sinha also announced an inquiry into the tear gas shelling incident against them during the protest.

"Posting for all of them would be done at safer places in the coming seven days (districts centres and tehsil centres). The issues that they have raised to my secretary at the site of the incident, would surely be solved chronologically. We are completely with them and understand their pain. Security would be provided by the administration at the places where they are staying," Sinha told ANI.

The J&K government also constituted an SIT to probe Rahul Bhat's murder.

Terrorism on the Rise in the Valley

The Kashmir Valley is in the midst of another surge of militant attacks on civilians, non-locals, and security forces.

A police constable was shot dead by suspected militants at his residence in Pulwama on Friday, 13 May, the police said. SPO Reyaz Ahmad Thoker was attacked in his home in Gudroo village and was shifted to the Army's 92 base hospital, where he succumbed to his injuries.

In the first two days of the holy month of Ramadan, suspected militants shot at and injured four non-local workers in South Kashmir.