Off-duty cop killed by terrorists in Kashmir
HT Correspondent
SRINAGAR: A police sub-inspector was shot dead on Saturday by suspected terrorists while working in his paddy fields near his home in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district.
The deceased officer was identified as Farooq Ahmad Mir and his bullet-ridden body was found in the paddy field near his home in Samboora village of the south Kashmir district on Saturday morning, police said. He is suspected to have been shot dead on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday.
“Dead body of Farooq Ah Mir of Samboora SI(M) posted in IRP 23 BN was found in paddy fields near his home,” Kashmir Zone police tweeted soon after the body was recovered. “Preliminary #investigation reveals that he had left his home for work in his paddy fields yesterday in the evening, where he was shot dead by #terrorists using a pistol.”
Police officers paid tribute to Mir during a wreath-laying ceremony at Lehtpora police training centre.
Mir joined the police force in 1998 as a constable. After qualifying a departmental examination in 2008, he was promoted as selection grade constable. In 2012, he was promoted as head constable, and six years later, became an assistant sub-inspector. Last year, he was promoted as sub-inspector.
Mir is survived by an elderly father, two daughters and a son. The death comes amid a series of attacks on policemen in different parts of the Kashmir valley this year. So far, eight personnel have been killed. Most of them were killed near their homes when they were unarmed. On May 24, police officer Saifullah Qadri was killed in Srinagar outside his house. On May 13, Riyaz Ahmad, another officer, was killed in Pulwama outside his house.
On May 7, police driver Ghulam Hassan Dar, who was on way to office, was killed by terrorists. On January 29, another police officer, Ali Mohammad Ganie, was killed by militants in Anantnag.