Jammu, Nov 8 (IANS): The cold-blooded murder of two members of a Village Defence Committee (VDC) in Jammu and Kashmir’s (J&K’s) Kishtwar district on Thursday was widely condemned as a massive operation started to trace the killers on Friday.

J&K Lieutenant Governor (LG), Manoj Sinha said on X, “No words are strong enough to condemn the heinous terrorist attack on VDC members. I convey my heartfelt condolences to the families of the brave sons martyred in this cowardly attack. We are firmly resolved to destroy all terror outfits and avenge this barbaric act.”

Chief Minister, Omar Abdullah said in condemnation of the cowardly murder of two civilians, “Deeply saddened & concerned by the attack that resulted in the deaths of Kuldeep Kumar & Nazeer Ahmed Padder of Kuntwara in Kishtwar, members of the local Village Defence Committee. The terrorists killed two innocent men who had taken their livestock to graze. I condemn this attack unequivocally & send my condolences to the families.

“At the same time I expect the security forces to move quickly to plug any gaps in our counter-terror grid & ensure that attacks like this stop completely.”

Former Chief Minister, Mehbooba Mufti, former Deputy Chief Minister and BJP leader, Kavinder Gupta, Pradesh Congress Committee (PCC) Vice President, Ravinder Sharma also condemned the murder.

A massive joint search operation has been launched by the police and Army in the dense forest area following the gruesome killings of two VDC members, Nazir Ahmed and Kuldeep Kumar from Ohli-Kuntwara village, who had gone missing in the upper reaches while grazing livestock on Thursday.

“Later, photographs of their bodies began circulating on social media and family members confirmed their identities”, police said.

The officials said Nazir Ahmad and Kuldeep Kumar, both residents of Ohli-Kuntwara, had gone to graze their cattle in the Munzla Dhar forest of the Adhwari area in the morning, but did not return.

“Police parties fanned out to find them amid reports that they had been abducted and killed by terrorists”, officials said.

Kuldeep Kumar’s brother, Prithvi told reporters that his father, Amar Chand died a week ago and the reports of his brother’s killing came as another big shock to the family.

The village came to know about the killings when the terrorists used the victims’ phones to share pictures of their execution, locals said.

Kashmir Tigers, an offshoot of Pakistan-based terror outfit Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) has claimed responsibility for the killings.

It also shared pictures of the victims’ bodies with their eyes blindfolded.

“There would be complete shutdown and no vehicular moment and no business establishment and no office would be allowed to function throughout Kishtwar in protest against the brutal killing of two VDC members at Kuntwara in Kishtwar”, spokesman of Sanatan Dharma Sabha Kishtwar said.