Militants snatch rifles from police in Shopian
Fayaz Bukhari
SRINAGAR, May 4: A group of militants today raided a police post guarding residential houses of Pandit families in a remote village in South Kashmir district of Shopian and snatched two service rifles of policemen deployed on guard duty there.
Two policemen on duty were suspended and two Special Police Officers (SPOs) were terminated immediately after the incident and a massive search operation has been launched to trace out the militants responsible for rifle snatching.
DIG Anantnag, Vijay Kumar, while giving details told Excelsior that weapons were snatched from police post in village Padgachoo in district Shopian.
The DIG said that there were two police men and equal number of SPOs on guard duty at a police post for minority community in village Padgachoo. He said that out of four, three – Head constable Mohammad Abdullah, SPOs Muhammad Amin and Imtiaz Ahmad – had gone to offer Friday prayers while Constable Mushtaq Ahmad was in the wash room of the police post at the time of militant raid.
The DIG said that two militants entered the police post and decamped with two Self Loading Rifles (SLRs) and fired in air from their pistol. He said that immediately after the incident, police and security forces cordoned off the village and launched a hunt for the militants responsible for snatching rifles from the police post.
The DIG said that he has directed the SSP Shopian to register a case against the policemen and SPOs. He said that they are being questioned by the police about the incident. He said that the rifles were snatched due to negligence on part of police.
Meanwhile, eyewitnesses said that a group of 5-7 militants arrived in village Padgachoo this afternoon in a Tata Sumo vehicle and stopped at a distance from the Police post. They said that the militants straightaway proceeded towards the police post and snatched two SLRs from police.
As the militants entered the police post, residents gathered outside and in order to scare them away, militants fired in air, the sources added. They said that the militants fled away from the village after snatching rifles.
The policemen later informed the police higher ups and senior police officers visited the spot to assess the situation. No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the snatching of rifles.
The South Kashmir district of Shopian is considered to be the hot bed of militancy after North Kashmir township of Sopore.
Follow our WhatsApp channel