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Militants kill 5 truck drivers

Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar

For the second time in 24 hours, militants struck and killed five Hindu truck drivers near Qazigund on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway late last night.

Yesterday militants killed three women and a child after attacking the houses of Hindu villagers at Harai Mendhar in Poonch district.

A senior police officer told rediff.com that militants stopped several trucks on the highway in Mir Bazaar Wanpoh in southern Anantnag district and asked the drivers to come out of their vehicles.

Sources said that some drivers of parked trucks in the area were also asked to come out. The drivers were later lined up and members of the minority community segregated. The militants then opened indiscriminate fire on the truck drivers killing five of them on the spot.

The sources said that the group of nearly 25 militants later escaped under the cover of darkness.

The firing triggered panic and police parties from the nearby areas rushed to the spot. Security forces also reached Mir Bazzar and mounted searches.

Deputy Inspector General of Police (Anantnag range) Raja Aijaz Ali told rediff.com on phone, "The drivers were asked to stand in front of a wall and shot dead."

Ali said that the highway was guarded by the Indo-Tibetan Police Force.

Though one of the drivers managed to escape and informed the Central Reserve Police Force and the ITBP, the two outfits failed to react immediately, according to a police official in Srinagar. The official said there was a two-hour-long delay.

The bodies are being sent to their respective homes in Jammu where the authorities have ordered a massive security beef-up.

The administration fears the killings might trigger tension. The supplies to the valley may be hit, according to sources.

However, the DIG said that security on the highway will be further beefed up. He said three ITBP battalions were being deployed on the highway.

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