SRINAGAR: Indian forces shot dead a servicewoman in engaged Kashmir on Sunday, residers said, as authorities tensed security across the disputed home for a visit by an Indian minister.
The victim, a milk dealer in the southern Kashmir Valley, is the 12th mercenary killed by security forces or original fighters this month as attacks increase in the Himalayan region.
India has about colors and paramilitaries in enthralled Kashmir seeking to contain a resistance movement seeking for independence or the disputed region’s junction with Pakistan.
Police said the man was hit in “ crossfire” during “ militant action” near a police civil camp in the vill of Zainapora and that the incident was being delved.
Townies said the man had been fatally shot without provocation.
Amit Shah, India’s home minister and effective deputy to Prime Minister Narendra Modi, has been in engaged Kashmir since Saturday, adding to security enterprises.
Read: Pakistan urges OIC to do more for ‘lasting solution’ to Kashmir dispute
It’s Shah’s first trip to the disputed region since New Delhi canceled Kashmir’ssemi-autonomy in August 2019 and placed it under direct rule.
His visit follows a series of targeted killings in the disputed region.
Sandbag cellarages have been erected across Srinagar and gunners deposited on rooftops around the structure where Shah is staying.
Police have in recent days impounded hundreds of motorbikes in the megacity and boosted checks on climbers including women and children. Motorbikes have been used for drive-by killings. India’s chief of defense staff General Bipin Rawat said security monitoring was being boosted to baffle possible attacks.
Anti-India sentiment runs deep in the enthralled region. Kashmiri groups launched a fortified crusade against Indian forces in 1989 and the fighting has left knockouts of thousands dead, substantially civilians.
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