High alert sounded as militants abduct cops' relatives

A high alert was sounded across south Kashmir on Friday after militants abducted relatives of seven policemen on Thursday night.

Sources said that masked militants barged into the houses of policemen in several areas of south Kashmir last night and abducted seven direct or indirect relatives of cops. Most of the kidnappings were reported from volatile Pulwama district.

Police did not immediately confirm the abductions and said they were trying to ascertain the facts. However, sources said, Following this alarming development, authorities have sounded across south Kashmir.

They said authorities have decided to launch a massive operation in south Kashmir areas to check the alarming trend of militants going after relatives of police personnel.

The incidents occurred a day after security forces arrested father of Hizb-ul-Mujahideen commander Riyaz Naikoo during a nocturnal raid in Awantipora area of Pulwama district. Security forces raided the house of Naikoo at Beighpora and detained his 70-year-old father Asadullah Naikoo.

Besides Naikoo’s father, security forces also arrested a dozen persons, mainly relatives of active militants in south Kashmir. It also follows the arrest of Pakistan-occupied-Kashmir (PoK) based Hizb-ul-Mujahideen chief Syed Salahuddin’s elder son by the National Investigation Agency in the 2011 money laundering case.