Unidentified pistol-borne assailants shot dead an elderly police officer who was manning a busy street at south Kashmir’s Pulwama district headquarters on Friday afternoon. This is the second attack on police in two weeks after Hizbul Mujahideen militants killed four cops in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district on April 26.
The assailants, suspected to be separatist militants, fled the scene after hitting the senior cop from a point-blank range.
Sources said that 55-year-old Assistant Sub-Inspector Farooq Ahmad Sheikh was managing traffic at busy Rajpora Chowk in the middle of bustling Pulwama town, 35 kilometers south from here, when some unidentified persons opened fire on him from a point-blank range at around 2 pm. The pistol-borne attackers fled the scene leaving the cop in a pool of blood, eyewitnesses said.
He was immediately shifted to district hospital Pulwama where doctors declared him brought dead.
No militant group has claimed responsibility for the attack but security forces suspect that it was the handiwork of the Hizbul Mujahideen.
Earlier on April 26, Hizbul militants attacked a police party in Hygam village and killed four policemen including a Sub-Inspector.
Deputy Inspector General of Police (South Kashmir) Vijay Kumar reviewed security scenario after the attack. “ASI Farooq Ahmed hailed from Batamaloo area of Srinagar and is survived by his wife, three daughters and two sons. A guard of honour and wreath laying ceremony was held for the departed officer at Pulwama,” a police spokesman said.
Meanwhile, sources said that police and Army have launched a massive combing operation in Shamaswari forests of north Kashmir’s Kupwara district following field intelligence reports that a group of armed militants was present in the area.
The forest range closer to the line of Control is prone to gun-battles between infiltrators and security forces.
Sources said the security forces suspect the armed group has recently crossed over the loC. The operation is in progress since Tuesday but no contact has been established with the militants.