2 Village Defence Guards missing in J-K's Kishtwar, worst feared   

Two Village Defence Guards (VDGs) were reported missing on Thursday amid apprehensions that they were kidnapped and executed by terrorists in Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said.

A massive joint search operation has been launched by police and the Army in a dense forest area, but nothing has been found so far.

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

They said police parties fanned out to find them amid reports that they had been kidnapped and killed by the terrorists.

"We have received information that my brother along with Ahmad was kidnapped and killed by terrorists. They were VDGs and had gone for grazing cattle as usual," Kumar's brother Prithvi told PTI.

He said a massive search operation is on but the bodies of the deceased were not recovered so far.

Prithvi said his father Amar Chand died a week ago and the reports about his brother came as another shock to the family.

Meanwhile, Kashmir Tigers, an offshoot of Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) terror outfit, has claimed that they killed the VDGs. They also shared what they called were the pictures of the bodies of the deceased.