SRINAGAR: Terrorists shot dead a 24-year-old labourer from Chhattisgarh and critically injured another worker from the state at a brick kiln in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Friday evening, marking the first fatal terrorist attack on migrant workers in Jammu and Kashmir since October 2024.
Police identified the deceased as Deepak Ratray, while the injured worker, Bhupender (28), was shifted to the Government Medical College in Anantnag for treatment.
The previous fatal attack on migrant workers took place on October 18, 2024, when unidentified assailants killed a labourer from Bihar’s Banka district in Shopian. Before that, Kulgam witnessed a similar attack on October 11, 2021, when two migrant workers from Bihar were shot dead in their rented accommodation in Wanpoh.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha condemned the attack, describing it as a “cowardly” act, and said he had directed security forces to intensify operations and eliminate those responsible. He added that he had spoken to Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat and other senior security officials following the incident.
Peoples Democratic Party chief and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the attack, saying it was tragic that migrant workers who had travelled far from home to earn a livelihood had become targets of violence.
BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir spokesperson Altaf Thakur termed the attack “cowardly, barbaric and inhuman”, alleging that its objective was to disrupt the prevailing atmosphere in the Union Territory.
The incident comes days after a terrorist shot dead Jammu and Kashmir Police head constable Ashiq Hussain Qureshi in Anantnag on July 22 while he was deployed for Amarnath Yatra duty. It was the first terrorist attack in Kashmir since the April 22, 2025, Pahalgam attack in which 26 people were killed.
The Amarnath Yatra, which began on July 3, has remained suspended on the Pahalgam route since July 19 because of heavy rain and landslides, while the Baltal route in Ganderbal continues to remain operational.
Security forces have launched a cordon-and-search operation to trace those behind the Kulgam attack.
