Sub-inspector, PDP worker shot dead in Pulwama

Suspected militants Sunday shot dead a police officer at a village in southern Pulwama district while he was travelling in his car, the police said.
A police officer said that militants waylaid the car of sub-inspector Imtiyaz Ahmad Mir in Wahibugh area at around 4.15 pm and took him to nearby Romshi Nallah and “fired upon him, resulting in his instant death.”
The bullet-perforated body of the officer was lying in the area for quite some time before it was recovered by a police party, the official said.
“When the police party reached the spot, some youth threw stones and bricks on them,” the official said, adding that the police fired some tears-moke shells to chase away the stone-pelters.
Mir, a resident of Sontbugh Pulwama was working with the Criminal Investigation Department of the Jammu and Kashmir police.
Police have registered a case in the incident and initiated the investigations, the officer said.
Meanwhile, militants attacked an army patrol at a village in Shopian district on Sunday afternoon.
A police official said that militants opened fire on a patrolling party of army’s 34 Rashtriya Rifles in Poterwal village at around 4.15 pm.
The army men, according to the official, immediately returned the fire. “No one, however, was hurt from the either side during the exchange of fire.”
Wreath laying ceremony of sub-inspector Imtiyaz was held at District Police Lines Pulwama. “Civil and police officers led by Inspector General of police SP Pani laid floral wreaths and paid rich tributes to the slain police officer. Among others who laid wreaths were DIG SKR, SSP Pulwama and other senior officers of police and security forces,” a police spokesman said in a statement.
A Peoples Democratic Party worker and a police officer were killed in separate attacks in Kashmir’s Srinagar and Pulwama districts on Sunday, even as an army patrol was attacked in Shopian district.
A police official said unidentified gunmen fired at PDP worker Muhammad Amin Dar, 40, at Gangbugh area of Hyderpora, Srinagar at around 6pm.
A witness said people heard gunshots and thought it to be a fidayeen (suicide) attack on forces.
“Later we came to know that PDP worker Muhammad Amin Dar, a resident of Gangbug, was shot at from a close range and died at SKIMS hospital in Bemina where he was taken in a critical condition,” the witness said.
The incident triggered panic in Gangbug and its adjoining areas.
Senior superintendent of police Srinagar Imtiaz Ismail confirmed Dar’s death.
“He was shot at and shifted to a hospital in a very critical condition. We have registered a case and investigations have been taken up,” he said.
A police spokesman in a statement said that militants fired at “an individual” at Gangbugh. “In the incident, he sustained grievous bullet injuries and was shifted to hospital where he succumbed,” he said.
Soon after the incident, the police cordoned off the area and intensified frisking of vehicles in the vicinity.
The PDP worker’s killing is second of its kind in Srinagar this month. On October 5, two National Conference workers Nazir Ahmed Bhat and Mushtaq Ahmed Wani were killed at Habba Kadal area of the city, three days before the start of urban local body elections in Jammu and Kashmir.