India: 7 killed in Kashmir tunnel site shooting

Six migrant workers and a doctor were shot dead as militants opened fired near a tunnel construction site in Kashmir, Indian authorities said on Monday. 

This comes just days after a new government was formed in the territory, resulting in an opposition alliance taking power in the region.

The elections were the first to take place since Kashmir was split into two federally administered territories: Jammu and Kashmir, and Ladakh.

The victims killed worked in the construction of tunnels meant to provide all-weather connectivity to the Ladakh region, considered to of strategic value, and which also shares a de-facto border with China and Pakistan.

Hundreds of people, mostly non-local laborers, are working on the project.

An image from 2021 of a tunnel under construction connecting Srinagar with LadakhImage: Dar Yasin/AP Photo/picture alliance

What do we know about the shooting?

Police said during the incident on Sunday, two gunmen shot "indiscriminately" at both workers and officials associated with the construction. Five other people were injured.

The militant group "Resistance Front (TRF)" claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulating on social media, which has not been independently verified. No group has immediately claimed responsibility.

Indian authorities believe the TRF is an offshoot of Pakistani Islamist militant group Lashkar-e-Taiba. 

Kashmir is claimed in full but ruled in part by both India and Pakistan. Militants in the parts controlled by India have fought security forces for decades. 

India's Interior Minister Amit Shah, in a  post on X, said those behind the attack "will not be spared and will face the harshest response from our security forces."

Just last week, a body of a worker from the eastern state of Bihar was recovered from Kashmir's Shopian region. The body was riddled with bullet wounds.

ftm/wmr (Reuters, AP)