Gunmen loot ₹65,000 from bank in Valley

: Gunmen barged into a bank in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Tuesday and looted ₹65,000.

This comes a day after five policemen and two bank guards were killed in the same district after militants stopped a bank cash van they were travelling in and opened fire.

The policemen and security guards were returning to district headquarters after delivering cash at a bank branch.

Police said armed men entered Ellaquai Dehati Bank in Yaripora area of Kulgam on Tuesday afternoon.

“They took ₹65,000 in cash from the bank and ran away,” said an official from police control room in Kulgam.

Militant outfit Hizbul Mujhadeen claimed responsibility for the killings on Monday in Kulgam.

However, it claimed that it had no hand in the death of the two bank employees who were killed in the attack alongwith five cops.

Hizbul Mujhadeen operational spokesperson Burhanuddin told a news agency that the attack was carried out by a special squad of the outfit and that besides inflicting casualties they also snatched four service rifles from the policemen.

“We didn’t attack the vehicle with the intent to loot the cash. We have enough cash,” he said.Adding further Burhanuddin further said, “We condemn the killing of two bank employees and want to clarify that they were shot dead by CRPF personnel and not by militants.”