A palpable sense of fear lingers in the workers camp near the under construction site of APCO Infratech at Gagangir in central Kashmir’s Ganderbal district, where militants killed seven persons in a major attack on Sunday evening. The blood stains and the empty cartridges still lie within the camp premises as police investigation is going on,” said a migrant worker employed in APCO Infratech.
The APCO Infratech company is constructing a strategic 6.5 km Z-Morh tunnel, which will provide all weather connectivity between J&K and Ladakh.
While recounting the harrowing experience, the worker said at around 7.15 pm on Sunday, when he and three of his friends were in a room inside the camp, they heard firing.
“As we attempted to move out, other workers told us to hide as militants have attacked the camp. The militant firing lasted for about 15 minutes and the security team reached the place nearly two hours late to rescue us,” the worker said.
Another worker said militants were two in number and they were wearing shawls over their pants. “They fired intermittently for about 15 minutes. They must have fired more than 100 rounds. The workers only emerged from their places after the firing stopped”.
The attack was coordinated across multiple locations within the construction site
“Militants attacked atleast four places in the under construction site. They started the attack from the workers mess, then moved to the officers mess, main office and security guard office. They also set on fire a Bolero vehicle by hurling a grenade on it,” a security guard, pleading anonymity, said.
In the deadly militant attack, seven persons including two J&K residents and five non local workers including three from Bihar and one each from Punjab and MP were killed.
Six other workers including two from Kashmir, two from Kathua and two from Bihar were injured in the attack and are undergoing treatment at SKIMS Soura. Surprisingly, over 70 security guards have been hired for security of the site by the APCO Infratech but none of them has a weapon, raising concerns about the adequacy of security measures.
“There were no armed guards in the under construction site for security purpose,” a security official said, adding the militants had well planned their attack.
He noted that militants are likely to have conducted reconnaissance of the area beforehand. “They struck when the CRPF contingent, which usually secures the area during the day, had left for their camp by evening”.
The official said since police and NIA are jointly probing the attack, the investigators might also be investigating the possibility of an insider’s role in the deadly attack. After the attack, security in the area has been beefed up and a team of CRPF men remain on guard outside while a contingent of policemen has been deployed inside the camp to reassure both local and non-local workers.https://www.newindianexpress.com/nation/2024/Oct/24/fear-grips-workers-at-gagangir-terror-attack-site