About six migrant workers and a doctor were shot dead in India’s Kashmir region on Sunday night when militants stormed and opened fire near a tunnel construction site, days after a new government was established in the territory.
An opposition alliance had seized power in the region this month after winning its first polls in a decade, making it the first since its special status was revoked and was split into two federally administered territories – Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.
The victims of Sunday’s attack were involved in the construction of tunnels meant to provide an all-weather connectivity to the militarily strategic Ladakh region, which shares a border with China and Pakistan.
Six workers and a doctor were killed, while five others were injured in the attack.
Non-Kashmiri migrant workers who are usually employed to work in orchards, paddy fields and construction sites in Kashmir have previously also been targeted by militant groups whose aim is to drive them away.
India’s Interior Minister, Amit Shah, has meanwhile termed the attack a “despicable act of cowardice”.
Kashmir is claimed in full but ruled partly by both India and Pakistan. The militants in the portion under India’s control have for decades, fought security forces, leading to the deaths of thousands of people.
