Suspected militants on Saturday killed a 19-year-old man hours after abducting him and two other civilians in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian district, the Hindustan Times reported, quoting police. The two other civilians were freed. There were also reports of two civilians being abducted from Meemender village in Shopian and then set free.
This is the second attack on civilians this week in the state. On Thursday, suspected militants abducted and shot dead a civilian in Pulwama district. Nadeem Manzoor’s bullet-riddled body was retrieved from Niklora village.
On Saturday, Huzaif Ashraf alias Raja Kandur, Shahid Ganaie and Farooq Thokar were abducted from a bakery in Saidpora Payeen village of Shopian, Superintendent of Police Sandeep Choudhary said. Ashraf’s body was found in Hermain village, about 10 km away from where he was kidnapped. Shahid Ganaie and Farooq Thokar were freed by the militants, he said.
Police did not not specify how Ashraf was killed, but unidentified locals said his body was found with his throat slit. Kashmir Police said the suspected militants also released videos of the killing on social media.
Police said Shahid Ganaie Farooq Thokar were from Saidpora Payeen while Ashraf was from neighbouring Manzgam in Kulgam district.
Former Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah condemned the attack. “Another dastardly killing of a young man, this time the terrorists slit his throat,” he tweeted. “This barbarism has no place in our society [and] no struggle, no matter how lofty the claims to justify it, can condone this inhuman behaviour.”
The Bharatiya Janata Party said the abduction and killings were “totally senseless”. Party spokesperson Altaf Thakur said that police must step up to stop the abduction and killing of civilians in the Valley.
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