Union Home Minister Rajnath Singh met several delegations in Srinagar (File)
Even as Home Minister Rajnath Singh met several delegations in Srinagar, militants attacked a police post in South Kashmir’s Anantnag town, killing one police constable and injuring two others. The attack took place close to the venue where Singh is scheduled to meet policemen on Sunday. Militants fired on a police post near the bus stand, injuring the three policemen on duty, local sources said. They were rushed to hospital, where one of the policemen succumbed to his injuries.
Medical Superintendent of Anantnag district hospital Dr Majid Mehrab told The Sunday Express that three injured policemen were brought to hospital. “One of them succumbed to injuries, two are under treatment.”
The deceased policeman has been identified as Imtiyaz Ahmad of Palpora, Srinagar. The militants fled after the attack, which took place about a kilometre from the venue where the home minister is scheduled to attend a review meeting on the situation in South Kashmir, and meet policemen at the district police lines on Sunday.
A senior police officer said that after the incident, security in the town has been beefed up further.
Separately, J&K Police said on Saturday that they had killed a militant in the North Kashmir town of Sopore. The Army and the Special Operations Group of the police had on Friday night launched an operation at Reban in Sopore after the forces received an input about the presence of militants in the area.
On Saturday morning, an exchange of fire took place between the forces and the militants hiding in a house, in which one of the militants was killed. The militant has been identified as Shahid Ahmad Sheikh alias Shaveed, a resident of Qaziabad. Sources said the militant was active for the last 18 months, and was a district commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, North Kashmir, Nitesh Kumar, said that based on intelligence about the presence of terrorists in Reban, an operation was launched in which one terrorist was killed. “An AK rifle and incriminating documents were recovered from the possession of militant.”
This is the second encounter in Sopore town this month. Police had earlier claimed to have killed a divisional commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen, Pervaz Ahmad of Galoora, along with an associate at Check-e-Brath on the outskirts of Sopore town.
On August 5, in a similar operation at Amargarh, the forces in a joint operation killed three local Lashkar militants.
