Two days after suspected militants attacked Jammu and Kashmir Bank’s cash van in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, killing five policemen and two bank employees, the trend of militants looting banks continued.
On Wednesday, in a span of two hours, two banks were robbed by militants in Pulwama district of south Kashmir.
Under attack on the law-and-order front in Kashmir, the ruling PDP took to social media to convey to militants that looting banks do not constitute "holy war".
Four armed militants entered the Wahibugh branch of Elaquai Dehati Bank at around 1:50 pm and looted around Rs 3-4 lakh at gunpoint before fleeing, a police official said.
A police team rushed to the scene after the bank employees informed them of the incident. A hunt was launched to arrest the robbers and recover the money, the official said.
At around 3:20 pm, the militants struck at the Nehama branch of the Jammu and Kashmir Bank in the same district Pulwama, the official said. The exact amount of cash looted by the armed militants is being ascertained, he said.
Militants have struck at bank assets four times in the past three days in south Kashmir.
On Tuesday, unidentified gunmen barged into Yaripora branch of the the Elaquai Dehati Bank and decamped with Rs 65,000.
Pulwama SP, Rayees Mohammad Bhat said that so far, the evidence seems to suggest Lashkar links to the bank robberies.
(With inputs from PTI.)
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