Two cops killed in attack by militants

Two policemen were killed while another was injured when militants opened fire on a vehicle of Jammu and Kashmir Police in southern Pulwama district on Monday.

Sources told Deccan Herald that two pistol borne militants in police uniform appeared outside the district court complex Pulwama, 35 kms from here, and fired indiscriminately upon the police vehicle injuring two cops and a driver, critically. 

The injured were immediately shifted to hospital where doctors declared two policemen brought dead.

The slain policemen have been identified as Farooq Ahmad Mir resident of Pulwama and Mukhtar Ahmad Wani of Qazigund in Anantnag. While Mir is survived by his aged mother and father, two brothers, sister, wife and a son, Wani is survived by his widow mother, brother, wife and an infant daughter, who's just two months old. 

Deputy Inspector General of Police, South Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said militants opened fire upon a police vehicle outside the court complex in Pulwama in which one Special Police Officer (SPO) and a follower died.

Immediately after the attack, senior police officers including Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir Abdul Gani Mir visited the spot to have first hand information of the incident. Army and Police cordoned off the area and launched a hunt to nab the militants responsible for the attack.

Indigenous militant outfit Hizb-ul Mujahideen claimed responsibility of the attack. In a telephonic statement to local news agency KNS, the outfit’s spokesman Balig-ud-din said they carried out the attack. “Such attacks will continue against the security forces in the coming days,” he warned.

Meanwhile, Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah condemned the killings. In a separate incident, a policeman was critically injured after he was allegedly stabbed by a youth while on duty in Pampore town in Pulwama district on Monday morning. 

Confirming the incident, police said the accused has been arrested. “An assailant stabbed a police official in the Pampore market. He was chased and overpowered by some policemen present nearby. The injured police official was admitted to a hospital from where doctors referred him to the Sher-I-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences in Soura,” a police spokesman said.