Gunmen fatally shot at least seven people working on a strategic tunnel project in Indian-controlled Kashmir and injured at least five others, officials said on Monday.

Police blamed militants who have been fighting against Indian rule for decades for the “terror attack” at a camp for construction workers near the disputed region’s resort town of Sonamarg. No rebel group immediately claimed responsibility.

Police said at least two gunmen fired “indiscriminately” at officials and workers associated with the construction, leaving two dead 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 on Sunday night. There was no immediate independent confirmation of the attack.

The dead included five non-local laborers and officials, one Kashmiri worker and a Kashmiri doctor.

Reinforcements of police and soldiers launched search operations in the area to nab the attackers.

Omar Abdullah, the region’s top elected official, condemned the attack in a post on social media platform X, calling it “dastardly & cowardly.”

A key Kashmiri resistance leader said he was “deeply saddened by the outrageous killings.”

“Another grim reminder of the unending cycle of violence and uncertainty we are suffering for decades,” Mirwaiz Umar Farooq wrote on X.

Hundreds of people, mostly non-local laborers, 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 massive snowfalls. Experts say the tunnel project is important to the military, which will gain significantly improved capabilities to operate in Ladakh.

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.

Sunday’s attack was the second attack on a non-local worker in the region since a largely powerless local government was sworn into office Wednesday, following the first local elections since India stripped the region of semi-autonomy five years ago.

On Friday, 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 blamed militants for 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 councilors, 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.

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

India insists that Kashmir militancy is Pakistan-sponsored terrorism. Pakistan denies the charge, and many Kashmiris consider it a freedom struggle. Tens of thousands of civilians, rebels and government forces have been killed in the conflict.

(AP)

A bus carrying journalists takes a tour of the under-construction Z-Morh tunnel in Sonamarg, northeast of Srinagar, Indian controlled Kashmir. (Reuters)

Gunmen kill 7 people working on a strategic tunnel project in Indian-controlled Kashmir