Srinagar: Militants shot dead two policemen and wounded another in indiscriminate firing in Nowgam area on the outskirts of the Srinagar city, police said.
Militants fired indiscriminately on a police party near Nowgam bypass Friday morning, a police official said, adding three policemen were injured in the attack.
The policemen were shifted to a hospital where two of them succumbed and the third was undergoing treatment, the official said.
The slain cops were identified as Ishfaq Ayub and Fayaz Ahmad of IRP 20 battalion. The third cop — Selection Grade Constable Mohammad Ashraf – is hospitalized and his condition now is said to stable, the official said.
Inspector General of Police Kashmir (IGP), Vijay Kumar, said the Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants carried out the attack.
“They fired indiscriminately and two of our jawans were martyred… We have identified them, they belong to JeM group. We will neutralise them soon,” Kumar told reporters near the site of the attack.
Asked whether there were any inputs about a possible militant attack on the eve of the Independence Day, the IGP said the police get such inputs every year.
“We have such inputs every year before August 15 and January 26. We had inputs that they will try (an attack) in some area. The boys were alert and prepared, but they (the militants) came from the rear side and fired on them.
“We have cordoned off the area and the searches are on. This is a narrow lane and there was civilian movement and if our boys would have retaliated, there would have been loss of civilian, so they exercised restraint,” Kumar said.
Political parties condemn killing of cops
Srinagar: The attack on a police party and subsequent death of two policemen has been condemned by several political parties here.
Jammu and Kashmir National Conference on Friday expressed deep anguish and sorrow over the killing of two cops in an attack in Nowgam locality in the outskirts of Srinagar, saying violence in all its forms is unacceptable and inhuman.
A spokesman of the party, while condemning the act of violence, in a statement said that violence only leaves behind the account of inevitable loss and prolonged grief.
Peoples Democratic Party too has condemned the killing of police personnel.
A PDP spokesman while conveying sympathies to bereaved families of slain police personnel has said that violence of last three decades or more has taken a heavy toll on the people in terms of death and destruction, tearing apart of the social fabric, inflicting massive economic, academic and other losses besides the irreparable loss of human lives.
Jammu and Kashmir Peoples Conference too condemned the killings.
“We strongly condemn the killing of two policemen in a dastardly and inhuman acts of violence at Nowgam today. Our sympathies and prayers are with the families of the deceased in this hour of grief,” a spokesman of PC tweeted.
Jammu and Kashmir Pradesh Congress Committee (JKPCC) and Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party (JKAP) too have expressed shock over the attack and subsequent killings and have expressed solidarity with the families of slain cops.
