By Jehangir Ali
Srinagar: A 44-year-old man who was shot by unidentified gunmen in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district succumbed at a hospital in Srinagar on Sunday (27 April), officials said.
The shootout took place four days after the Pahalgam terror attack and two days after a family alleged that their son, who was described by police as a “militant associate”, was killed in a fake encounter in Bandipora.
Security forces in Jammu and Kashmir are on a high alert following the carnage in Baisaran meadow of Pahalgam where 25 Hindu civilians were killed by a group of Lashkar-e-Tayyaba militants on April 22.
A Kashmiri Muslim youngster, who reportedly tried to save a female tourist, was also shot and killed.
In the latest incident, a family member said that the deceased identified as Ghulam Rasool Magray was dragged out of his home in Kani Khas village of Kupwara on Saturday night by unidentified gunmen and shot barely a few metres away outside the residence.
Locals said that the deceased’s mother, who is believed to be suffering from some ailment in her eyes, was the only other person present at the single-storied house when the gunmen struck on Saturday night.
“A group of unknown gunmen barged into the house at around 10:45 pm, saying that they had to carry out searches. Then the gunmen brought him out and shot him here,” the victim’s brother, whose name was not immediately known, told local reporters.
Following the shooting, the assailants, whose number was not known, fled from the area while the victim was rushed to Government Medical College in Handwara from where he was referred to Srinagar in a serious condition.
“He had suffered critical injuries in the abdomen and succumbed today,” said a doctor at Srinagar’s Shri Maharaja Hari Singh Hospital, where the victim was undergoing treatment.
This story was originally published in thewire.in. Read the full story here.
