Some of the bus windows sustained damaged, resulting in injuries to the two schoolchildren. (Source: ANI/TwitteR)
Two schoolchildren were injured when their school bus was pelted with stones in south Kashmir’s Shopian. Police sources said that a bus belonging to Rainbow International School came under attack in Zavoora area of Shopian on Wednesday morning. Some of the bus windows were damaged in the incident. The injured students were immediately rushed to a hospital where one of them was discharged while another, a class II student, was referred to Srinagar for further treatment.
Shopian district was observing a shutdown against the killing of two militants, including a commander Sameer Tiger, and a civilian in an encounter at Drabgam in neighbouring Pulwama district. Jammu-Kashmir Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti condemned the attack and said the perpetrators will be punished. “Shocked & angered to hear of the attack on a school bus in Shopian. The perpetrators of this senseless & cowardly act will be brought to justice,” she tweeted.
Former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also condemned the attack on the school bus. “How does pelting stones on school children or tourist buses help advance the agenda of these stone pelters? These attacks deserve our unequivocal condemnation & this tweet is mine,” Omar wrote on his Twitter handle.
Condemning the incident, Director General of Police S P Vaid said, “Complete madness how stone pelters are targeting young school children. These criminals will face the law.”
National Conference spokesman Junaid Mattu also condemned the incident and took a dig at separatists, saying “One would expect (Syed Ali Shah) Geelani and Mirwaiz (Umer Farooq) to take a conscientious call and condemn stone pelting while reserving the right to espouse their political ideologies through non-violence. You can’t claim the moral high ground while refusing to condemn this unequivocally.”
with PTI inputs