In second attack in three days, militants gun down two policemen in Srinagar

By Express News Service
SRINAGAR: Two policemen were shot dead by militants in Srinagar on Friday, while three al-Badar terrorists were killed during a gunfight in Shopian district of south Kashmir.

The police also claimed to have cracked Wednesday’s attack on a dhaba owner’s son by arresting all three accused.

Militants fired at two unarmed policemen Sohail Ahmad and Mohammad Yusuf at Baghat Chowk near Saddar police station in Srinagar in the afternoon. 

Police detain a youth after the firing at twopolicemen at Baghat Chowk in Srinagar.(Photo | PTI)The two were taken to police hospital, but succumbed. In a CCTV footage of the attack, a militant can be seen taking out an assault rifle and firing indiscriminately at the policemen standing near a shop.  Kashmir IGP Vijay Kumar said Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were involved in the attack and they have been identified. 

“One of them is a foreigner and another local, Saqib, hailing from Barzulla area of Srinagar. We will neutralise them soon,” he said adding, “We will beef up the security to check loopholes and won’t allow militants to strike in the city.”

This is the second militant attack in Srinagar this week.

On Wednesday, militants had fired at and injured Akash Mehra, son of dhaba owner.

IGP Kumar identified the arrested militants involved in the attack on Mehra as Suhail Ahamad Mir, Owais Manzoor Sofi and Vilayat Aziz Mir.

He said they are new recruits of the Lashkar and the Muslim Janbaz Force, which owned up the attack, was an offshoot of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT). 

The weapons and the bike used in the attack, a grenade and other incriminating materials were also recovered from the trio. 

In Shopian, a gunfight broke out at village Badigam area during a search operation on Friday evening.

“The operation was suspended at night and resumed early Friday after troops evacuated the persons being held hostage by the militants,” a police officer said. 

Three local al Badar militants — Suhail Sheikh alias Azeem, Shahid Ahmad Dar alias Furkan and Muddasir Ahmad Wagay — were killed in the gunfight.

In another encounter on Friday night at village Zanigam in central Kashmir’s Budgam district, Special Police Officer Mohammad Altaf was while constable Manzoor Ahmad was seriously injured.