A policeman was killed and his minor daughter was injured after militants fired upon him in Soura area on the outskirts of Srinagar city on Tuesday.
Police said the militants fired upon a policeman Saifullah Qadri, near Anchar, Soura when he was with his daughter. The father-daughter duo was immediately rushed to nearby SKIMS hospital, where Qadri succumbed to his injuries.
The condition of the daughter of the slain policeman is stated to be stable. Soon after the incident, the area was cordoned off by police and the CRPF to nab the attackers.
On May 13, militants had shot dead an off-duty policeman in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. Another off-duty policeman was shot dead by militants on the outskirts of Srinagar city on May 7, while on March 26, in a similar incident, militants shot dead a policeman and his brother in Budgam district.
Police maintain that the militants were choosing soft targets to make news and such killings are carried out to instill fear in the minds of common people.
“Most of the time, hybrid militants carry out attacks on civilians and unarmed policemen. A pistol in majority of cases or an odd AK-47 in some cases, is all the weapon their handlers trust these recruits with,” a senior police officer told DH.