J&K terror killings: Security forces detain more than 700

DAYS after Indian home minister Amit Shah chaired a marathon meeting over the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir in the wake of the killings of civilians from minority communities and counter-terror experts were sent to the Valley, security forces detained more than 700 people in the union territory, who are allegedly terro sympathisers.

Several of those detained are believed to have links with banned terror outfit Jamaat-e-Islami or are suspected overground workers and come from places like Srinagar, Budgam, etc.

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A senior police officer told Indian news channel NDTV that the suspected were detained “break the chain of attacks in the (Kashmir) Valley”.

The officer also said the attacks may have been fuelled by a rise in radicalism following the Taliban’s return to power in Afghanistan and that the killers were going after “easy” targets.

J&K terror killings: Indian government sends counter-terror experts to Valley

The murders have sparked a massive outage in the Valley with the minority communities and opposition political parties seeking better security. The opposition has slammed the administrations at both Jammu and Kashmir and New Delhi saying they were unable to stop the attacks.

Last week, former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Farooq Abdullah and leader of the local outfit National Conference told NDTV that innocent people were dying and appealed to the Indian government to re-assess policies. He also called on prime minister Narendra Modi to visit the Valley and assure people who are living there in fear.

The most recent deaths that rocked the Valley were of two government school teachers who were gunned down by alleged terrorists on October 7. Two days before that, a veteran Kashmiri Pandit and owner of a pharmacy in Srinagar was shot inside his store.

Police have attributed most attacks to ‘The Resistance Front’ - reportedly an offshoot of banned Pakistani terror outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba. They also said seven of the 28 civilians killed since January are non-Muslims.