Three cops abducted, killed in Kashmir
Armed militants raided homes of at least 11 policemen in southern Kashmir Valley
The bodies of three policemen abducted by militants were recovered in Kashmir yesterday, police said, as tensions mount ahead of local civic polls.
Police officers, many of them local Muslims, have been increasingly targeted in recent months in the territory rocked for decades by violence. The increased focus on policemen seems to be in response to what appear to be new police tactics of detaining the family members of prominent militants.
The latest incident saw groups of armed militants raiding the homes of at least 11 policemen in the twin villages of Kapran and Batgund in southern Kashmir Valley.
They abducted three Special Police Officers (SPOs), as well as the brother of a police constable, police and witnesses said. “Three bullet-riddled bodies of the SPOs were found lying in the fields,” a police officer told AFP, speaking anonymously.
The brother of the constable was released unharmed.
The SPOs are the lowestrank police officers who are often deployed for counterinsurgency duties. Police authorities recently advised officers not to visit their homes without security and not for more than two hours at a stretch.
Former chief minister Mehbooba Mufti expressed “outrage” over the killings and asserted that dialogue was the only way out of the ongoing cycle of violence in Kashmir.
“Clearly, with the rise in kidnapping of police personnel and their families, the centre’s muscular policy is not working at all. Dialogue, the only way forward, seems to be a distant dream for now,” she tweeted.
Clearly, with the rise in kidnapping of police personnel and their families, the centre’s muscular policy is not working at all.” Mehbooba Mufti| Former Kashmir CM
Militants warn of revenge
The SPOs are engaged in counterterrorism operations on a meagre remuneration of Rs6,000 (Dh305) a month. They are given uniforms but not all are issued weapons.
Last month, militants abducted 11 police officers and their relatives, after police detained family members of prominent militants.
All of them were released without harm, but a commander of the Hizbul Mujahideen militant group warned of “an eye for an eye” if government forces did not stop harassing militants’ families.