Militants disfigure faces of cops slayed in Achabal ambush: J&K police

Srinagar: Six Jammu and Kashmir policemen were killed and two civilians injured in a militant ambush in southern Anantnag district on Friday evening.

The militants who ambushed the police patrol disfigured the faces of the six cops slain in the attack before walking away with their weapons, police said.

A sub-inspector, identified as Pulwama-resident Feroz, a driver and four other policemen, who were on a routine round in their jeep, died in the attack, Director General of Police S P Vaid said.

Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) has claimed responsibility for carrying out the attack. Its spokesperson Dr Abdullah Ghaznavi, in a statement to news agency CNS, said six policemen were killed in the attack carried out by them at Tajwah in Achabal.

Among the slain policemen was Feroz Dar, a Station House Officer (SHO), the sources said.

Two civilians were also injured in the gun battle.

The police sources said that the militants targeted a police group, at about 70-km south of Srinagar, with gunfire.

Reacting to the heinous activity carried out by the militant group, a senior police official said LeT wanted to take revenge for the Arwani encounter in which their local commander, Junaid Mattoo, is believed to have died.

The encounter at Arwani in Bijbehara area broke out on Friday morning and all the three militants are believed to be dead.

No bodies have been recovered so far.

Army has been moved out and was combing the area, officials said.

The incidents came close on the heels of the militants striking across the Kashmir valley voraciously. They carried out four grenade attacks at the security forces’ camps and foot patrols in southern Pulwama district and Srinagar city, leaving over a dozen personnel injured.

The authorities had sounded a high alert and particularly asked the CRPF and the Jammu and Kashmir police to be more vigilant and thwart reoccurrence of such acts by militants.