6 Indian paramilitary soldiers die in Kashmir accident

By Hilal Mir

SRINAGAR, Jammu and Kashmir (AA) - Six Indian paramilitary soldiers died and several others were injured in a road accident in Indian-administered Kashmir on Tuesday, police said.

The bus in which the soldiers were traveling veered off the road and rolled down a slope into a gorge near Chandanwari in Anantnag district, more than 110 kilometers (approximately 68 miles) from the capital Srinagar.

A police statement said the injured were airlifted to the Indian army's main hospital in Srinagar for treatment.

The victims were members of the Indo Tibetan Border Force, a border paramilitary force deployed for security reasons along the route of a mountainous Hindu cave shrine, the site of an annual pilgrimage that was canceled ahead of schedule due to bad weather.

- Attack

A man, identified as Sunil Kumar, was fatally shot, while his brother Pintu Kumar was injured by suspected militants in southern Shopian district.

The police said the area has been cordoned off to locate the attackers.

Since the Hindu nationalist Indian government scrapped the autonomous status of this disputed Muslim-majority region on Aug. 5, 2019, several Hindus and non-Kashmiri Muslims have been killed by suspected militants who believe the decision was made with the intention of eradicating the Muslim-majority character of the region by settling outsiders.

Hindus from Kashmir who are known as Pandits and Muslim workers from various parts of India were among the victims.

Jammu and Kashmir is currently ruled directly by New Delhi through Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha, who said the attack on the Kumar brothers “deserves strongest condemnation from everyone.”

He said the militants responsible for the “barbaric act will not be spared.”