Firing outside Army camp in J-K’s Rajouri, two civilians killed

Rajouri/Jammu: Two civilians were killed and another injured in a firing incident outside a military camp in Jammu and Kashmir’s Rajouri district early Friday, officials said.

While the Army blamed “unidentified terrorists” for the firing and subsequent civilian casualties, officials had earlier said that an Army sentry allegedly opened fire leading to the casualties.

Soon after the incident, local residents took to the streets and pelted stones on the camp to protest the killings outside the Alpha gate of the Army camp.

Senior civil and police officers are on the scene to pacify the agitating locals who have blocked the Jammu-Poonch national highway, demanding a probe into the incident, officials said.

They said the incident occurred at around 6.15 am when a group of locals were approaching the Army gate for entry for work.

The officials identified the deceased as Kamal Kumar and Surindar Kumar, both residents of Rajouri, and said the injured, Anil Kumar of Uttarakhand, was admitted to a hospital by the Army.

Army’s White Knight Corps, in a tweet on its official handle, said “In an early morning firing incident by unidentified terrorists at Rajauri near Military Hospital, there has been fatal casualty of two individuals. The Police, security forces and civil administration officials are on the site.” The officials said the situation in the town is tense but under control.