A police officer was killed and two others injured after militants attacked a police check post in the Lal Bazar area on the outskirts of Srinagar city on Tuesday evening.
“In a terrorist attack in Lal Bazar area, ASI Mushtaq Ahmad (56) attained martyrdom. Two other personnel sustained injuries and are stable. Cordon and search operations have been launched in the area (sic),” Srinagar police tweeted. The injured were constables Fayaz Ahmad and Abu Bakar.
Reports said the militants opened fire on a police naka party outside GD Goenka School at Lal Bazar at around 7:15 pm. Police repulsed the attacks but the attackers managed to escape, reports added.
Immediately after the attack, senior police and paramilitary officers rushed to the spot. The area was cordoned off to nab the attackers.
The attack comes at a time of high security in the state amid the ongoing Amarnath Yatra.
Several policemen, mostly off-duty, have been shot dead by militants in a spate of attacks this year. In May, three off-duty policemen were killed in Srinagar and south Kashmir’s Pulwama 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 the 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.
Published 12 July 2022, 14:27 IST