One J&K cop dies, another hurt in militant attack

Srinagar: The restive Kashmir Valley is once again witnessing escalation in violent attacks on policemen. Over past few days, at least, two policemen were killed and one was critically injured in sneak attacks by suspected militants.

In one such attack, the wife of one of the police officials was critically wounded.

On Saturday, two such attacks took place in southern part of the Valley. One special police officer (SPO) was killed and another was critically wounded, officials said.

The police said that SPO Muhammad Ashraf Mir was critically wounded when militants shot him in chest near Murran Chowk, a busy intersection in Pulwama district. He was rushed to the district hospital where he succumbed, the police added. Mir, a resident of Pulwama’s Machpona, was a former militant who had been absorbed by the police department after he decided to shun violence. He was posted in Srinagar as an SPO and was currently off duty, the police said. He also owned an eatery in Pulwama town, the local sources said.  

Earlier during the day, another SPO identified as Turaq Singh (a report mentioned his name as Trilok Singh) was shot and critically wounded by gunmen at Khanabal Chowk in neighbouring Anantnag district.  

On March 29, SPO Mushtaq Ahmed Sheikh was shot dead by suspected militants inside his home in Anantnag’s Katoo Wapzan village. His wife Fareeda Mushtaq was critically injured in the incident.

Officials said that apart from usual combats, hundreds of policemen have been targeted by militants in similar fashion during the three-decade old militancy in J&K, many of them while off duty and visiting their homes.  Such attacks saw escalation in March and April last year when a number of policemen and their kin were killed or wounded.

Following a series of militant attacks at policemen or their families, the police department had issued an advisory asking its field personnel to avoid visiting their homes “for the next few months”.