New Delhi: The Kashmir valley has seen a fresh upsurge of violence with three terrorist attacks in 36 hours. The attacks came days before Parliamentary by-polls are scheduled to be held in Srinagar and Anantnag districts on 9 and 12 April, respectively.
On Sunday night, a group of armed terrorists opened fire in Anantnag at Jammu and Kashmir minister Farooq Andrabi’s house, injuring a policeman. Andrabi is a leader of the ruling Peoples Democratic Party.
“The terrorists forced their way into the house in Dooru, which is located about 8 km from Srinagar, and took away four rifles. At the time of the shootout, Andrabi was not at the house,” said a senior J&K police official, requesting anonymity.
The J&K police stated that on Sunday morning, two Hizbul Mujahideen terrorists were killed when they tried to attack a police party that included three senior officers in Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
“The police killed two top militants of Hizbul Mujahideen in a brief encounter at Padagampora on Sunday afternoon. A police party was on its way from Pulwama to Awantipora, when a group of militants in a Maruti car fired upon the party near Padgampora, which was retaliated,” said J&K inspector general of police S.J.M Gillani.
The militants were Shahbaz Shafi Wani alias Rayees Kachroo and Farooq Ahmad Hurrah, Gillani added.
The J&K police said that on Saturday night, a group of unidentified terrorists barged into the house of a sub-inspector and took his son and nephew hostage and ransacked the house. The two were later released, setting the car ablaze.
