NEW DELHI: The death toll in Friday night’s terror attack on migrant labourers in Jammu and Kashmir’s Kulgam rose to two on Saturday after a Chhattisgarh worker succumbed to injuries in hospital, officials told news agency PTI.The attack took place late Friday night in the Kelam area of south Kashmir, where the two workers were employed at a brick kiln. Officials said both men sustained critical injuries after terrorists fired at them.One of the labourers, identified as Deepak Ratray, died before he could be shifted to a hospital. The second victim, Bopinder, was initially admitted to Government Medical College (GMC) Anantnag before being referred to SKIMS Hospital in Soura, where he later succumbed to his injuries.Officials said both victims were in their twenties and had travelled from Chhattisgarh in search of work.The incident comes days after terrorists shot dead Jammu and Kashmir Police head constable Ashiq Hussain Qureshi at Anantnag’s Lal Chowk while he was deployed on Amarnath Yatra duty. That attack, on July 22, was the first terror strike in Kashmir since the April 22, 2025 Pahalgam massacre, in which 26 people were killed.Friday’s attack has also revived concerns over the safety of migrant workers in the Valley. In February 2024, two non-local labourers from Punjab, Amritpal Singh and Rohit Masih, were shot dead in Srinagar. Before that, in October 2021, terrorists killed two workers from Bihar, Raja Reshi Dev and Joginder Reshi Dev, in Kulgam’s Wanpoh area.Lieutenant governor Manoj Sinha condemned the latest attack and said security forces had been instructed to intensify anti-terror operations.“I strongly condemn this cowardly act. I have directed our security forces to step up their operations and eliminate the terrorists,” Sinha wrote on X, adding that he had spoken to DGP Nalin Prabhat and other senior security officials.PDP president and former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti also condemned the killings.
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“They work themselves to the bone far away from home only to feed their families. Unimaginably cruel to target them in such senseless acts of violence,” she said.BJP’s Jammu and Kashmir spokesperson Altaf Thakur described the attack as “cowardly, barbaric and inhuman”, alleging that its objective was to disturb peace and normalcy in the Union Territory.The attack occurred during the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, which began on July 3. While the pilgrimage through the Pahalgam route has remained suspended since July 19 because of heavy rain and landslides, the Baltal route in Ganderbal continues to remain operational.Following the attack, security forces launched a cordon-and-search operation in the area to trace those responsible.
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