Teenage Bihar migrant worker killed in Kashmir

SRINAGAR: A 19-year-old migrant worker from Bihar was shot dead by terrorists in north Kashmir’s Bandipora district around 1am on Friday, while a special police officer (SPO) was wounded in a separate attack in Anantnag later in the afternoon.
Mohammad Amrej of Besarh village in Bihar’s Madhepura was the fourth migrant worker killed in a targeted attack in Kashmir this year. This was the latest in a string of attacks on civilians in the Valley.
Police said Amrej was killed at the rented quarters he shared with two siblings in Sadunara village.
His elder brother Tamheed said: “Our younger brother woke me up and said he had heard gunshots. I told him it’s not unusual here and asked him to go back to sleep. But he went downstairs to check as Amrez was not in the room. He saw Amrez covered in blood. We called the Army. They came and took him to Hajin. The doctors there told us to take him to Srinagar, but he died on the way.”
Bihar CM Nitish Kumar condoled the death and said an ex gratia of Rs 2 lakh will be given to the bereaved family.
Friday’s killing followed a fidayeen-style attack on an Army camp in Rajouri district the day before that left four soldiers dead. Two terrorists associated with the Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) group were killed too.
Terrorists have been increasingly carrying out targeted strikes on non-Kashmiri workers. A labourer from Bihar was killed in a grenade explosion at his shared tent in Gadoora village of south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on August 4. The deceased was identified as Mohammad Mumtaz, while two more men from Bihar were wounded.
A bank manager from Rajasthan and a labourer from Bihar working in a brick kiln were killed in Kulgam and Budgam districts on June 2.
On March 19, carpenter Mohammad Akram, 40, from Bijnor in UP was shot and wounded in Pulwama district. A truck driver from Punjab and his helper were shot at by terrorists when they were sleeping in their vehicle in Pulwama district on the night of April 3. The next day, a CRPF man died and two workers from Bihar and a Kashmiri Pandit were wounded in three attacks in Srinagar and Pulwama.
On April 5, terrorists wounded two labourers from Bihar in Pulwama district, while a non-Kashmiri truck driver was shot at in the same district two days later.