Hours after Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed shock at the killing of five workers from West Bengal in Jammu and Kashmir, Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar on Wednesday condemned the attack.

Calling it a cowardly act, the Governor urged everyone to condemn the incident.

“This cowardly attack is a shocking incident. It must be condemned by everyone. It’s a terrorist attack. They are enemies of humanity and the nation. I am more pained because the victims were from Murshidabad,” Governor Jagdeep Dhankhar told ANI.

Dhankhar further urged the West Bengal government and the Centre to extend assistance to the victims’ families.

“Their deaths will have a cascading and detrimental effect on their families’ daily lives. The loss is unbearable and unforgettable,” he added.

Earlier in the day, Congress leader in Lok Sabha, Adhir Ranjan Chowdhury, met the families of the five slain labourers from Murshidabad.

Five labourers from Sagardighi area in Murshidabad district were killed and another injured in a terror attack in Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Tuesday.

All the five have been identified as — Sheikh Kamrudin, Sheikh Mohd Rafiq, Sheikh Murnsulin, Sheikh Nizam u Din and Mohd Rafiq Sheikh. The injured has been identified as Zahoor Din Sheikh.

West Bengal Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee expressed shock at the cowardly attack and said her government would extend all help to the bereaved families.

“We are shocked and deeply saddened at the brutal killings in Kashmir. Five workers from Murshidabad lost their lives. Words will not take away the grief of the families of the deceased,” Banerjee said in a social media post.

“All help will be extended to the families in this tragic situation,” she said.

The killing is the latest in a series of attacks on non-Kashmiris in the Valley by terrorists.

Earlier this month, three non-Kashmiri workers were killed by terrorists in the Valley.

A Punjab-based apple trader was killed by militants in the Shopian district of Jammu and Kashmir on October 16.

A day before, terrorists shot dead a migrant labourer from Chhattisgarh in Kakpora area of Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district.

A truck driver from Rajasthan was killed by terrorists in Shopian on October 14.

Besides, last week, a truck driver was shot dead by terrorists in Anantnag and terrorists also fired at security personnel stationed at a school in Pulwama. Last Thursday, drivers of two apple-laden trucks were shot dead when terrorists attacked a convoy of trucks in South Kashmir’s Shopian district. The trucks, heading for fruit markets elsewhere in the country, were set on fire before the terrorists escaped from the spot.

Post the revocation of Article 370, militants have been resorting to civilian killings and threats to instil fear among the people so that the return of normalcy is prevented in the valley.