A Jammu and Kashmir Police head constable was killed after militants opened fire on him in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Wednesday while he was on security duty for the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, officials said.
The attack took place around 12:30 pm near Lal Chowk on the Anantnag-Kokernag road. Officials identified the slain policeman as Head Constable Ashiq Hussain, a resident of Budgam district. He was critically injured in the firing and was rushed to the Government Medical College (GMC) Hospital in Anantnag, where he later succumbed to his injuries.
Following the attack, security forces rushed additional reinforcements to the area, cordoned off the locality and launched a massive search operation to trace the terrorists involved in the attack.
First Militant Attack on Security Personnel This Year
The incident comes after a long period of relative calm in the Kashmir Valley, particularly during the ongoing Amarnath Yatra, which is being conducted under heavy security arrangements.
According to officials, this is the first militant attack targeting security force personnel in the Valley this year.
Incident Follows Shopian Encounter
The attack comes about two weeks after Lashkar-e-Taiba militant Zakir Ganai was killed in an encounter in Shopian district on July 8. The four-day anti-militancy operation was launched after security forces received intelligence about the presence of two Lashkar-e-Taiba militants in the area.
Security agencies have intensified search operations in and around the attack site to track down the assailants. No arrests have been made so far, and further investigation into the attack is underway.
