Over 700 ‘Terrorist Sympathisers’ Detained in Jammu And Kashmir After Recent Civilian Killings

Among those detained are around 500 residents with suspected links to banned religious and terror groups.

Srinagar: Over 700 ‘terrorist sympathisers’ have been detained by security forces in Jammu and Kashmir after recent civilian killings, the NDTV reported. The 700 people have been detained in response to the killing of seven civilians, including those from the Kashmiri Pandit, Sikh and Muslim communities, in six days. The murders have sparked outrage in the already tense Kashmir Valley, with opposition leaders fiercely critical of the administrations’ apparent inability to stop the attacks and locals living in fear.

Among those detained are around 500 residents with suspected links to banned religious and terror groups, a senior police officer told news agency AFP, on condition of anonymity. The officer told AFP that “no stone will be left unturned to find the killers”.

They had been detained to “break the chain of attacks in the (Kashmir) Valley”, a senior police officer reportedly told NDTV. The officer also said the attacks may have been fuelled by an increase in radicalism following the Taliban’s rise to power, and that the killers were going after “easy” targets.