Gunmen kill seven people working on key tunnel project in India’s Kashmir

It is the second attack on non-local workers in the disputed region since a local government was sworn in last week.

Gunmen have killed seven people working on a strategic tunnel project in Indian-administered Kashmir and injured at least five others, officials say, in one of the worst attacks in the disputed region this year targeting civilians.

Police on Monday blamed the rebels fighting against Indian rule for what they called a “terror attack” at a camp for construction workers at Gagangir, near the resort town of Sonamarg.

Police said at least two attackers fired “indiscriminately” at officials and workers associated with the construction on Sunday night, killing two people on the spot. At least 10 others were taken to hospital, where five more died.

The attack came shortly after workers returned to their lodgings. The dead included five migrant workers and officials, one Kashmiri worker and a Kashmiri doctor.

Villagers offer funeral prayers near the body of Kashmiri doctor Shahnawaz at Nadigam village, southwest of Srinagar, Kashmir [Mukhtar Khan/AP]

Reinforcements of police and armed forces launched search operations in the area to arrest the attackers.

Omar Abdullah, the region’s chief minister, condemned the attack in a post on social media platform X, calling it “dastardly and cowardly”. India’s Home Minister Amit Shah said those responsible would face the “harshest” response.

Hundreds of people, mostly labourers from other states of India, are working on the ambitious tunnel project that aims to connect the Kashmir valley with Ladakh, a cold desert region that is isolated for half the year because of snowfalls. Experts say the tunnel project is important to the military, which will gain significantly improved capabilities to operate in Ladakh.

A bus carrying journalists takes a tour of the under-construction Z-Morh tunnel [File: Dar Yasin/AP]

The strategically important region shares de facto borders with Pakistan and China, and Indian and Chinese soldiers have been engaged in a military standoff there since 2020. Both countries have stationed tens of thousands of soldiers there, backed by artillery, tanks and fighter jets.

Second attack since the vote

Sunday’s attack was the second attack on migrant workers in the region since a largely powerless local government was sworn in on Wednesday, following the first local elections since Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government stripped the region of semiautonomy five years ago.

On Friday, the body of a worker from eastern Bihar state, riddled with bullet wounds, was recovered from a maize field in southern Shopian district, police said. They suspected rebels behind the killing.

Kashmir has witnessed a spate of killings, many targeting workers from other parts of India, since 2021. Police say the killings, which have also included local Muslim village councillors, police officials and civilians, have been carried out by anti-India rebels.

India and Pakistan each administer a part of Kashmir, but both claim the territory in its entirety. The nuclear-armed rivals have fought two of their three wars over the territory since they gained independence from British colonial rule in 1947.

Rebels in Kashmir have been fighting New Delhi’s rule since 1989. Many Kashmiris support the rebels’ goal of uniting the territory, either under Pakistani rule or as an independent country.

India insists that the Kashmir rebellion is “Pakistan-sponsored terrorism”. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and army and police personnel have been killed in the conflict.