Gunmen loot banks in J&K
Gunmen loot ₹6.33 lakh from two banks in Pulwama district in 90 minutes.
SRINAGAR: For the second successive day on Wednesday unidentified gunmen targeted banks in Kashmir — this time looting ₹6.33 lakh from two banks in Pulwama district in a span of a few hours.
In the first incident, three suspected militants barged into a branch of the Ellaquai Dehati Bank at Waibug at around 1.50pm and fled with around ₹5 lakh. The men, however, did not harm anybody physically. The bank has no surveillance cameras.
At around 3.20 pm, the militants targeted a branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank at Nehama and looted of ₹1.33 lakh, the police control room in Pulwama said. Police have launched a hunt for the robbers.
Wednesday’s bank robberies come a day after gunmen barged into a bank in Kulgam district on Tuesday and looted ₹65,000 from another branch of the Ellaquai Dehati Bank.
On Monday, five policemen and two security guards of a bank were killed after militants attacked a Jammu and Kashmir Bank van. Bank officials said there was no money in the van because the cash was already dispensed.
The Hizbul Mujahideen claimed responsibility for the attack but denied killing the bank guards. There have been many incidents of bank robberies in past where police have blamed militants.
In December 2016, police had identified the armed men who robbed a bank in south Kashmir as militants from the banned outfit, Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
The militants had struck a Jammu and Kashmir Bank branch in Ratnipora area in Pulwama on December 15, looting around ₹10 lakh. There were two incidents of bank robberies earlier as well.
POLICE ANNOUNCES ₹10L REWARD ON SUSPECT IN MONDAY’S ATTACK
Meanwhile, the J&K Police on Wednesday announced a cash reward of ₹10 lakh for information on Umer Majid, a suspected Hizbul Mujahideen militant responsible for killing seven people, including five policemen and two bank guards, at Kulgam in south Kashmir on Monday.
Posters of Majid were pasted on walls in Kulgam, a district located 90km from here, announcing cash reward that may lead security agencies to him, police said. Earlier, a cash reward of ₹5 lakh was announced.