Militants ambushed a police party in north Kashmir’s Sopore pocket on Friday evening killing four policemen. The attack was carried out five days after police claimed to have busted a lashkar-e-Tayyeba module in the area led by a Pakistani militant Fahadullah.
Insurgency observers say the attack could be a revenge act by the lashkar militants and a rebuff to claims that the group has been wiped out in the area.
A police spokesman said that four policemen — a head constable, a constable and two Special Police Officers — from the Patukhah police post had gone to Hygam village in the jurisdiction of police district Sopore when they were ambushed by militants killing all of them on the spot. Unconfirmed reports said that the attackers decamped with the weapons snatched from the slain police personnel.
Inspector general of Police (Kashmir range) Abdul Ghani Mir said that locals had tipped off the police about the movement of suspicious persons in the village and the police party had gone to inquire. “Four of our men were deputed to the spot and as soon as they reached there they were fired upon by militants and all of them were martyred”, the IGP told reporters.
Mir said that the policemen have reacted to the attack by retaliatory fire. “There were blood stains found which were perhaps of militants on the spot but nothing could be confirmed as of now,” he said.
The slain policemen have been identified as head constable Abdur Rahim, constable Mudasir Ahmad and SPOs Gulshan Ahmad and Mudasir Ahmad Parry.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah has condemned the attack and described it as an act of cowardice. “The police jawans sacrificed their lives for the protection and safety of the people and exhibited highest degree of bravery,” Abdullah said in a condolence message.
leader of Opposition and PDP chief Mehbooba Mufti said that the “dastardly attack does not achieve anything except resulting in bloodshed and devastating four more families”.
This is the sixth attack on police and security forces since March when lashkar militants attacked a Central Reserve Police Force camp at Bemina on the outskirts of Srinagar killing five paramilitary personnel.