Inspector General of Police Abdul Gani Mir (left) and colleagues carry the coffin of the police officer during a wreath laying ceremony in Srinagar yesterday.
Suspected rebels shot dead a police officer and wounded two of his colleagues yesterday outside Srinagar, an official said.
Unknown gunmen opened fire on Syed Shabir Ahmad who was patrolling a market in Chadoora, 25km from Srinagar, in an attack that also injured a shopkeeper, the police official said.
The “officer died in the attack. We are ascertaining what exactly happened,” Inspector General of Police Abdul Gani Mir said, adding that the injured were taken to hospital.
Intelligence reports suggested militants were planning to step up attacks on police officers in Jammu and Kashmir, police recently said.
Meanwhile, a gunfight started between security forces and separatist guerrillas in north Kashmir’s Kupwara district yesterday evening.
A senior police officer said troopers of counter-insurgency Rashtriya Rifles and the Special Operations Group of the state police challenged a group of militants in Rajpur village of Zachaldara in the district.
“The group of two-three militants opened fire when they were challenged by security forces, resulting in a gunfight which is still on,” the IGP said.
More than a dozen armed rebel groups have been fighting Indian forces since 1989 for the region’s independence or its merger with Pakistan.
