Militants attack SSP’s car in Shopian district

SRINAGAR: Senior superintendent of police (SSP) of south Kashmir’s restive Shopian district had a narrow escape after militants targeted his vehicle on Saturday.

Police said that a group of militants opened fire on the bullet proof vehicle of Ambarkar Shriram Dinkar when he was travelling near Harmen area of Shopian. The officer escaped unhurt.

“They fired from a distance and were on a height. There were orchards in between,” Dinkar told HT.

Policemen in the SSP’s cavalcade retaliated but the militants managed to escape. “We retaliated strongly but since there were civilians in between them and us, we had to be cautious in our response,” the SSP said.

The area was immediately cordoned by the security forces but it yielded no results. “There was no loss of life and property,” said a police spokesman.

The SSP said that the security forces have been dealing with local militancy even as more youth were joining the ranks of Hizbul Mujahideen, Lashkar e Toiba and in a few cases Jaish e Mohammad.

“There would be at-least 32-33 local militants in the district despite the death of 20 militants last year. Many of these boys are new recruits,” Dinkar said. “Violence has its ups and downs. The district has its local dynamics.”

Shopian has been restive for some time now, particularly after two militants were killed in an encounter on January 24 in Chaigund village. A civilian was also killed near the site of the encounter.