Militants kicked away 18-month-old girl before spraying bullets on PSO, family: Officials
Srinagar: Heart-wrenching details have emerged of the gruesome killing of a special police officer (PSO) and his family by Jaish-e-Mohammed militants, who allegedly kicked an 18-month-old girl and her mother as well, officials said here on Tuesday.
Two militants, including a foreigner, knocked at the door of ailing SPO Fayaz Ahmed in south Kashmir on Monday night and started thrashing him. His wife Raja Begum and 22-year-old daughter Rafia made an unsuccessful attempt to save him as the militants started spraying bullets on him, officials said.
They said in the process, Raja Begum and Rafia were injured and died at a hospital next day.
“During investigation it came to light that Ahmed’s 18-month-old granddaughter and daughter-in-law were mercilessly kicked by the militants,” officials said.
As the militants reached their house in Hariparigam village in Awantipora around 10:30 pm, Ahmed’s daughter-in-law placed her 18-month-old daughter at their feet pleading them to spare the family.
However, the militants, “kicked the infant away and committed their gruesome act,” said a senior security officer.
“Which culture teaches such barbarity…kicking an 18-month-old baby and spraying 20-25 bullets on an innocent family?” a senior officer probing the case said, adding that Pakistan-based militant groups have no love for the people of Kashmir Valley.
A senior official conveyed to Ahmed’s neighbours that “souls when soaked in guilt are the heaviest, and not voicing against brutality is a guilt many of us bear. Let’s stand together for whom we care”.
The gruesome killing of the SPO and his family has sent shock waves across Kashmir with political parties terming it a “dastardly and cowardly” act and a “blot on the security scenario” in the Valley.
Inspector General of Police (Kashmir range) Vijay Kumar had said on Monday that two JeM militants, including a foreigner, were involved in the killing.
Kumar said the loss of the SPO along with his wife and daughter has “pained us a lot” and assured that the militants involved in the act will be neutralised soon.
Militants have intensified attacks on police and security forces recently. While an inspector and a constable were killed in Nowgam and Eidgah areas of Srinagar last week, a civilian died in a grenade attack on security forces at Barbarshah in the heart of the city.
