Militants on Saturday struck again in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district killing two police personnel, including an assistant sub-inspector. The attack was carried out a day after three Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were shot dead in an ambush by Hizbul Mujahideen militants in Bijbehara town. The two spots where militants struck without being tracked down are barely 8 kilometres apart.
Sources said that the policemen were shot at from a close range at around 10:45 am near bus stand on Khanabal-Pahalgam road, around 50 kilometres south from here. The two policemen were managing traffic when they were targeted, a police officer said. After being hit, they were immediately taken to a local hospital but they had succumbed to injuries before reaching the hospital.
The slain cops were identified as ASI Bashir Ahmad Ahangar and Constable Reyaz Ahmad.
The attack was carried out barely 18 hours after militants ambushed a Srinagar-bound BSF convoy at Bijbehara, the ancestral town of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti on Friday afternoon. Three BSF men were killed and eight others wounded in the meticulously coordinated attack owned by pro-Pakistan outfit Hizbul Mujahideen. The outfit had warned of more such attacks.
The security forces cordoned off a major area around the site and launched manhunt in an attempt to track down the militants involved in the attack. The authorities are perplexed over the sudden rise in militant activities in the town that has largely remained peaceful during past several hours.
The attacks took place at a time when campaign for the Anantnag bypoll scheduled for June 21, began. Mehbooba Mufti filed her nomination papers from the constituency that fell vacant after the demise of her father and former Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed. The State Government had pleaded for postponement of the bypoll citing law and order situation. However, the Election Commission of India decided to conduct the crucial poll after some rescheduling.
Soon after the attack, a picture with two militants armed with automatic rifles and carrying stuffed bags went viral. The picture has been taken some 200 metres away from the spot where the policemen were killed. The source of the picture was not identified.
Several legislators took up the matter in the assembly and demanded a resolution be passed against Pakistan for backing up such activities in Kashmir. Speaker Kavinder Gupta said that the House was unanimous in condemning such acts. Rural Development Minister Abdul Haq Khan informed the House that DGP along-with several officers has reached the post to take stock of the situation.
The Chief Minister also expressed anguish over the “senseless violence perpetrated by the enemies of peace” and said that the recent attacks once again show the desperate levels to which the militants can go to disrupt peace and normalcy in the State. “Violence is a zero sum game which does not solve any problem but gives rise to more complexities,” she said.
“The security forces personnel and the policemen, who are performing difficult duties not out of choice but to earn bread and butter for their families, are losing their precious lives in such dastardly attacks,” she said and added one fails to understand why unsuspecting cops should fall prey to this senseless violence. She also praised the security forces and the police for exercising restraint to ensure that the innocent civilians don’t fall victim to any retaliatory action.
Earlier, Mufti visited the Frontier Headquarters of the BSF at Humhama here to lay wreath on the mortal remains of the three BSF personnel killed at Bijbehara on Friday.
The Chief Minister expressed solidarity with the Director General BSF KK Sharma who arrived here at the instructions of Home Minister Rajnath Singh.
“My heart goes out to the families of the slain BSF personnel and I hope that the perpetrators will be taken to task soon,” she said.
Meanwhile, DG BSF called upon Governor NN Vohra at the Raj Bhavan to discuss the obtaining security scenario in the State, particularly in the aftermath of recent ambush on the BSF convoy at Bijbehara.