ISIS claims responsibility for killing J&K cop

Srinagar: The claim by the Islamic State (ISIS) that it was responsible for Sunday’s attack at a police post in Jammu and Indian Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar in which one cop was killed has put the authorities in restive Valley on tenterhooks.

However, director general of police Shesh Paul Vaid said that it was still a matter of investigation and that nothing with certainty could be said about the presence of the terror organisation in Kashmir.  

The ISIS had on its media website “Al Amaq” said on Monday, “Assassinated an element of police in firing near city of Srinagar in Kashmir yesterday”. “A war has just begun,” it added.

Asked how seriously the issue was, the police chief told this newspaper, “They have claimed it... they had made a similar claim in November (2017) when Mughees, a terrorist from Srinagar, was killed and our sub-inspector was martyred. But we don’t see any consequent change on the ground. Yet it needs verification.”

“It is possible some local wolf type fellow influenced by the ideology of the ISIS is playing it up exactly the way Zakir Musa (former Hizb-ul-Mujahedin commander) appears to have been swayed by the ideology of Al Qaeda,” he added.

DGP Vaid had earlier been quoted by a TV news channel as saying that it is now clear that the attack was carried out by ISIS and admitted “it is indeed a worrying sign”.

However, later during the day on Tuesday, he clarified that nothing could be said on the presence of ISIS in Kashmir until the militants involved in the killing of the policeman are caught. He said, “Since it is on their website and they have displayed image of snatched weapon. They are claiming it. From our side we can say that unless we catch those involved in the attack we can’t say anything.”

On Sunday, gunmen had targeted policemen guarding a Sufi shrine in Valley’s historic town of Charar-e-Sharief and the residence of Mirwaiz Umar-led Hurriyat Conference leader Fazal Haq Qureshi in Srinagar’s Soura area. One policeman was killed in each incident.

In November last year, the ISIS had claimed the responsibility for the shootout in which police sub-inspector Imran Tak was also killed in Srinagar’s Gulab Bagh area. On that day, a police party was fired upon by three men travelling in a car. The police returned fire' killing one militant Mughees Ahmed Mir.

However, the DGP Vaid had said that there was no ISIS presence in Kashmir. He had told this newspaper, “I don’t think the ISIS has any footprints here.”.