(Bloomberg) -- Gunmen killed at least seven workers, and injured five others, at a key tunnel project in Jammu and Kashmir on Sunday, according to the police, making it one of the worst attacks on an infrastructure project in the volatile Indian region.
The militants fired at a housing camp for construction workers in the Ganderbal district, north of Srinagar, The Indian Express reported. The workers were building a 6.4 kilometer (3.9768 miles) tunnel, connecting a popular tourist location to the district throughout the year, according to the newspaper.
The construction project, managed by a private firm, is among the many infrastructure projects launched by the Indian government to boost economic development in the region.
Sunday’s assault came less than two weeks after local elections in Jammu and Kashmir, India’s only Muslim-majority region that’s been beset by separatist violence for decades. In 2023, 46 militant-led incidents took place and more than 80 people, including civilians, were killed in counter operations, according to the Ministry of Home Affairs.
Omar Abdullah, who became the region’s chief minister earlier this month, said the victims of the latest attack were a mix of local and non-local workers. His party, the Jammu & Kashmir National Conference, formed an alliance with the country’s main opposition group, the Indian National Congress, to secure a majority in the local elections.
In 2019, Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s government relegated Jammu and Kashmir to a union territory from a state, meaning it’s now controlled primarily by the national government in New Delhi.
Amit Shah, India’s minister for home affairs, said Sunday the attackers “will face the harshest response from our security forces,” according to a post on social media platform X.
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