Remembering The 2006 Doda-Udhampur Massacre – Serial killing of 34 Hindus

In 2006, Pakistan-backed terror group targeting Hindus in Jammu and Kashmir massacred 34 locals in serial terror strikes that took place in Doda and Udhampur on the night of 30th April. In two separate communal attacks on the same night in the neighboring areas of Jammu and Kashmir, heavily armed terrorists from suspected terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba gunned down innocent Hindu villagers, after establishing their religious identity.

 

 

The ethnic cleansing of Hindus on the same day in two districts of J&K, Doda and Udhampur in the year 2006, was one of the worst in the state since 2000 and also a pre-planned move of Pakistan backed terrorists against the Hindu locals. On 30th April, the 22 victims who lost their lives in the cruel attack in the Thawa village of Doda district included a 3 yr old girl. The cowardly attack was carried out by 10-12 heavily armed terrorists wearing the uniform of the Indian army who first stormed in the village, lined up the villagers in two groups, mostly from shepherd families, and shot them dead. The cold-blooded terrorists pumped bullet after bullet until all victims fell dead. The intensity of the serial strikes was such that the doctor who did a post-mortem examination of the victims too reportedly died of shock in the hospital on seeing the number of bloodstained bodies.

 

 

Shockingly enough, soon after on the same night, a second attack took place in the neighboring Lalon Galla village of Udhampur district where 12 Hindu shepherds were first kidnapped by terrorists and then shot dead brutally. While four bodies were found on the same night, eight were recovered the following day. According to sources, there were 10 survivors of the attack who were left in critical condition. The terrorists, at first, surrounded the village late night and then asked the men from adjacent houses to gather at the village headman’s house. When all the victims came out, the terrorists lined them up and opened fire from point-blank range, they continued to fire until their ammunition was exhausted.

 

 

 

 

 

 

According to eyewitnesses, hours before the brutal killing of Hindus began in Lalon Galla village of Kulhand area in Udhampur, two of the locals named Siraj-ud-Din and his son Rukun-ud-Din were set free by the terrorists after establishing their religious identity, but the other 13 were marched out of their homes and shot dead.

 

 

Those who survived or witnessed the gruesome killings went into a state of shock as the army helicopters came to their rescue. The villagers who were escaped or moved from the area but had failed to save their near and dear ones could recall the horrendous incident as they had eye-witnessed open fires by terrorists that took 34 lives in a day at two close locations, bordering Pakistan.

 

 

 

 

Following the massacre, officials maintained that the terror group Lashkar-e-Taiba, which had carried out over a dozen major communal massacres in the Jammu region in past years, most likely executed both attacks with the assistance of another terror group Hizbul-Mujahideen. The then Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and Chief Minister of J&K Ghulam Nabi Azad condemned the killings, which they believed were directed at derailing the peace process.