A 65-year-old civilian was killed and two persons — including a policeman were wounded when Hizbul Mujahideen militants opened fire on a police party in north Kashmir’s Sopore town on Sunday afternoon.
This is the fourth attack on security forces in many weeks in Kashmir that resulted in the death of eight cops, two suicide attackers and a civilian.
Sources said that pistol borne militants fired three shots when a posse of policemen disembarked from their vehicle to clear traffic jam in busy Iqbal Market of north Kashmir’s Sopore town on Sunday afternoon. The bullets hit a policeman Kishore Kumar and an elderly civilian Abdur Rashid Dar injuring them critically.
The wounded 16-battalion Indian Reserve Police personnel and the civilian were immediately shifted to Srinagar for treatment. “Both the injured were shifted to hospital for treatment. However, the civilian succumbed to his injuries”, a police spokesman said.
Sources said 3 pistol cartridges were recovered from the firing site. The incident triggered panic in the area, which is prone to assaults on security forces, grenade attacks in public places and target killings.
Police said that the cops did not retaliate fearing civilian casualties due to huge rush in the market. “Taking advantage of huge rush militants managed to escape”, police said.
Meanwhile, a caller identifying himself as Baleegudin, spokesperson of Hizbul Mujahideen outfit, claimed that attack was carried by militants of the organisation.
He told a local news agency KNS that the Chief Operations Commander of Hizb has congratulated the group for carrying out ‘this successful operation’.
“Two policemen were injured in the attack while service rifle of one policeman was also taken away”, he claimed.
Newly-appointed Inspector General of Police Abdul Gani Mir visited the spot a few hours after the attack. He instructed the district police to redouble efforts to track down perpetrators of the incident immediately.
Earlier this week, unknown militants shot dead an 18-year-old man at Doabgah village in the same district when he tried to hide himself in a mosque after escaping from militants’ clutches when they made first attempt on his life. Police said the lashkar-e-Tayyeba militants were behind the attack, which was condemned by separatists and pro-India leadership alike.
The latest assault on police in Sopore is the fourth attack on security forces in Kashmir Valley during March. The militants killed two policemen in Handwara pocket of north Kashmir on March 2. On March 13, five Central Reserve Police Force personnel were killed in a suicide attack at Bemina in the periphery of Srinagar. On March 21 morning, a Border Security Force soldier was killed in an ambush at Nowgam bypass in the outskirts of Srinagar.
The level of violence has receded in recent years in Kashmir but militants have upped the ante during past weeks. Observers say that separatist violence has increased after the execution of parliament attack convict Afzal Guru. Guru was secretly hanged and buried in Delhi’s Tihar jail on February 9. This plunged Kashmir Valley into a fresh turmoil. While the authorities are managing situation through heavy deployments and prohibitory orders, the separatists have embarked on calling protests and shutdowns.
Militant groups have threatened to avenge the execution of Afzal Guru describing him a “martyr of Kashmir cause”.
On Sunday, Mutahida Majlis-e-Mushawarat (MMM) or joint advisory council, formed by separatist groups to spearhead a stir in support of return of Guru’s body issued a protest calendar. Interestingly, most of the educational institutions and business establishments remained open on Sunday to compensate for a shutdown earlier on Wednesday.