Unidentified terrorists shot dead a special police officer in south Kashmir’s Bijbehara area on Tuesday. Another constable was wounded in the shootout.

Police said that terrorists opened fire on a police party at Pazalpora village near Bijbehara in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district, around 45 kilometers from here. Two cops were grievously injured in the attack. They were immediately shifted to hospital where SPO Bilal Ahmad was declared dead on arrival.

Head constable Bashir Ahmad was shifted to Srinagar for specialised treatment. The security forces cordoned off the entire area after the attack and launched a search operation to track down the attackers. However, no arrests were made.

Bijbehara is the hometown of Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti.

Meanwhile, separatist grouping Joint Resistance leadership (JRL) comprising of Syed Ali Geelani, Mirwaiz Umar Farooq and Muhammad Yasin Malik has called for a march on May 19 against the proposed visit of Prime Minister Narender Modi saying the visit is aimed at hoodwinking the opinion of international community.

The separatists have called for shutdown on May 21 to commemorate anniversaries of two former separatist leaders Mirwaiz Muhammad Farooq and Abdul Gani Lone who were assassinated by suspected terrorists in 1990 and 2002 respectively.

Courtesy: The Pioneer, Wednesday, 16 May 2018 | Khursheed Wani | Srinagar