Three policemen have been shot dead by militants after being abducted from their residences in Shopian in south Kashmir late on Thursday.
The deceased were all low-ranking special police officers (SPOs), who are not part of the police's anti-militancy Special Operations Group(SOG). The dead SPOs were identified as Firdous Ahmad Kuchey and Kuldeep Singh, residents of Batgund in Shopian, and Nisar Ahmad Dhobi of Kapran in Shopian. Nisar's brother, Fayaz Ahmad Bhat, was also abducted but later released.
Police sources said the bodies of the three SPOs were recovered at Lami-Wangam in Shopian.
ADGP (law and order) Munir Khan said the police were busy with the funerals and wreath-laying ceremonies of the three policemen on Friday. He confirmed that the three SPOs were from South Kashmir.
The killings took place on a day when police had sealed parts of Srinagar in view of the 10th Muharram—the day when Shia Muslims mourn the killing of Imam Hussain, grandson of the Prophet Mohammad, at Karbala.
The police had imposed restrictions in Srinagar in areas falling under 13 police stations. The police and paramilitary forces have also been deployed in other parts of Kashmir in view of Muharram.
The killing of three policemen has come after 11 kin of policemen were abducted by militants in south Kashmir's Shopian, Kulgam and Pulwama in retaliation to the detention and ransacking of the homes of militant commanders in Pulwama on August 30.
Earlier, militants had killed four policemen in an ambush at Arhama where they had gone to get their vehicle repaired.
The abducted kin of the policemen was released after they appealed to then director general of police S.P. Vaid not to harass the families of militants and vandalise their properties.
The killing of the three SPOs is likely to escalate tensions between the security forces and militants.
