Militant killed in Pulwama gunfight

Tribune News Service

Srinagar/Anantnag, Feb 6

A former Special Police Officer-turned-militant was killed in a gunfight in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district today. The Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant, Raqib Bashir, was killed in a brief gunfight this afternoon.

Elsewhere in the Valley, a policeman decamped with the service rifle of a colleague in Srinagar. He is suspected to have joined militant ranks.

Pulwama Senior Superintendent of Police Tejinder Singh said an operation was launched after receiving inputs that a militant was hiding in Gundpora village.

“As a search was launched, the militant opened fire, to which our men retaliated, triggering a brief gunfight. The militant was gunned down after brief exchange of fire,” he said.

Tejinder Singh said the slain militant had worked as an ATM security guard before joining the police for a day in November last year. He had not decamped with a weapon. Clashes took place between residents and security forces after the killing.

In Srinagar, a policeman decamped with the service rifle of a colleague. He is suspected to have joined militant ranks. The police sounded an alert after the policeman went missing this morning.

Sources said police follower Riyaz Ahmed, a resident of central Kashmir’s Budgam district, fled from the Rainawari police station in Srinagar’s old city along with the rifle of constable Showkat Ahmed. They said Ahmed had been working as office boy at the police station.

“After Ahmed went missing with the rifle of his colleague, we filed a case and started investigation,” said a police official. “Initial investigation hinted that Ahmed might have joined the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen,” he added.

The police raided Ahmed’s house at Khan Sahib in Budgam to locate the absconding police follower, but failed to find him. A few members of his family and friends were questioned by the police.

This was the second incident in Kashmir this year wherein a cop decamped with a rifle. On January 17, Shakoor Ahmed, personal security officer of the Bijbehara Deputy Superintendent of Police, decamped with four AK-47 rifles from the residence of the officer.

Shakoor is believed to have joined militant ranks and is still at large. The police had later recovered two of the rifles that he had taken from Shopian in south Kashmir.

A senior police officer in Srinagar said the trend of policemen escaping with rifles and joining militancy was “alarming”.

Last year, police constable Naseer Pandit, who was posted as security guard to senior PDP leader and then minister Altaf Bukhari had decamped with two AK-47 rifles and joined the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen. Pandit is associated with the militant outfit and is active in south Kashmir.