Srinagar, Feb 1 (IANS) Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) guerrillas gunned down two teenaged sisters after forcing them out of their home in the Jammu and Kashmir town of Sopore, triggering panic in the area, police said Tuesday as Chief Minister Omar Abdullah condemned the incident in a strongly worded statement.
Altaf Khan, superintendent of police, Sopore, said: ‘Two of the killers have been identified by police, they belong to the LeT. A manhunt has been lodged.’
A senior police officer said heavily armed guerrillas entered a house in the Muslim Peer locality of the town Monday evening and forced out the two sisters, Kulsuma, 19, and Yasmin, 17, who belonged to an impoverished family. Sopore, considered a hotbed of militancy, is 54 km from here in Baramulla district.
‘They opened fire at the two sisters, killing them on the spot and the militants later fled,’ the officer said.
Reacting to the incident, the chief minister wrote on Twitter: ‘If you can’t condemn the killing of these two girls irrespective of your political beliefs and do so without qualifying it, then shame on you.’
‘May Allah grant peace to the souls…, their family the strength to deal with this tragedy and us the strength to learn from it,’ he said.
The killings triggered panic in the area and police and security forces officers rushed to the spot.
