Lockdown at Bandipora in north Kashmir. (Express photo by Shuaib Masoodi)

A Special Police Officer was killed and another injured in Jammu and Kashmir’s Dachhan area of Kishtwar district on Monday when suspected militants attacked them with axes and later decamped with their weapons.

Identifying the deceased as SPO Khursheed Iqbal and the injured as Vishal, police said both were posted at a police picket in Tander. The attack came around 1.30 pm, when the SPOs had gone to Upper Tander area for patrolling.

The police identified the attackers as Ashiq Hussain and Basharat Hussain, both residents of Tander, saying the former was released from jail recently following his bail in an abduction and rape case registered at Dachhan police station.

The injured was evacuated from the spot by a party from the police post. As the news came, police parties from Kishtwar town and nearby areas were rushed to Dachhan to track down the attackers.

Inspector General of Police for Jammu zone, Mukesh Singh, along with DIG Doda-Kishtwar-Ramban range Abdul Jabbar, also reached Kishtwar to supervise the operation against the absconding militants.

Militancy resurfaced in Kishtwar district after over six years in 2018, when militants gunned down a senior BJP leader, Anil Parihar, and his brother Ajit Parihar near their home in November of that year. Four months later in April 2019, militants killed a senior RSS functionary, Chander Parkash, and his PSO in Kishtwar district hospital.

On different occasions during September last, the police and security forces in joint operations had killed three militants and arrested a number of others, who were allegedly involved in these four killings and in some incidents of weapon-snatching in Kishtwar town.