Senior J&K Official Killed As Pakistan Targets Civilian Areas In Rajouri

A senior officer of the Jammu and Kashmir government was killed this morning after Pakistan targeted civilian areas in Rajouri and other parts of the Union Territory.

J&K Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, who chaired a meeting the officer virtually attended before, has expressed profound grief over his death.

"Devastating news from Rajouri. We have lost a dedicated officer of the J&K Administration Services. Just yesterday he was accompanying the Deputy CM around the district & attended the online meeting I chaired. Today the residence of the officer was hit by Pak shelling as they targeted Rajouri town killing our Additional District Development Commissioner Sh Raj Kumar Thappa. I've no words to express my shock & sadness at this terrible loss of life. May his soul rest in peace," Omar Abdullah said in a post on X.

Reacting to the tragedy, BJP’s Ravinder Raina said that he was "deeply saddened", adding that Thappa was a “daring and people-friendly officer” who served the nation with "utmost sincerity".

Civilian areas in Jammu and Kashmir have come under heavy fire from across the border after India carried out targeted strikes on terror bases in Pakistan, as part of Operation Sindoor, in retaliation for the Pahalgam massacre in which Pakistan-based terrorists killed 26 people in cold blood.

Videos emerging from Jammu show shattered homes and damaged vehicles after Pakistan targeted civilian areas in the city.

Post Operation Sindoor—which struck nine terror-linked sites tied to Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba—Pakistan has intensified its shelling.

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