‘Grenade hurled at duo while they were asleep’

AYAAN WANI

Srinagar, Oct 18: Two migrant labourers from Uttar Pradesh were killed in a terror attack in south Kashmir’s Shopian district, officials said on Tuesday.
A senior police officer said the attack took place in Shopian’s Hermain village where two labourers identified as Ram Sagar and Manish Kumar, both residents of Kanooj in Uttar Pradesh, were putting up in a tin shed.
Waheeda Jan, wife of the owner of the building, said that her family was woken up at around 11:30 am on Monday by the sound of a loud explosion where she assumed was a gas cylinder going off in the neighbourhood.
However, the explosion was followed by screams of the two men, who were living in a tin shed adjacent to their house and worked as daily wage labourers by helping the orchardists in harvesting their apple crop.
“My brother-in-law went upstairs where he found the two men. We called the village head who later informed the police and the two men were taken to a hospital. They were going to leave for their home today,” Waheeda said.
According to the police, the two men succumbed at the hospital, triggering a massive cordon and search operation in Hermain and its adjoining villages and orchards which lasted throughout the day on Tuesday.
Reports said unidentified terrorist hurled a grenade at them while they were deep in sleep at their dwelling. The grenade exploded between the two, resulting in grievous injuries to both of them.
Reports said the two men were brought to Kashmir by a group of fruit traders from Uttar Pradesh and they had arranged for their stay in a tin shed built on top of a building which houses a row of shops along the main road in Hermain.
Soon after the news of the killing spread, dozens of media persons arrived in the area to report about the tragic incident which comes three days after a Kashmiri Pandit, Puran Krishen Bhat, a resident of the adjoining Choudhary Gund village, was gunned down outside his home by suspected terrorists.
“They were poor men who had come to Kashmir to earn a livelihood. What crime had they committed to deserve such a painful death. What was their fault? Which religion teaches to kill innocent people who are trying to earn a living for themselves and their families. These are cold-blooded murders,” said a neighbour, who didn’t want to be identified.
Officials said the bodies of the two slain men have been sent for medico-legal formalities and preparations are underway to send them back to their families in Uttar Pradesh, “They were going to leave for their homes on Tuesday but fate had something else in store. The perpetrators need to be punished sternly so that such incidents don’t happen in future,” said Waheeda said.