Four killed in held Kashmir, say police

HELD SRINAGAR: Suspected militants on Sunday killed two policemen guarding the home of a pro-India politician in held Kashmir.

Two militants sprayed bullets towards the home of a National Conference politician who was inside meeting party workers in the town of Khrew, 25 kilometres south of the main city of Srinagar, an officer and a party official said.

“The two policemen died before reaching hospital,” the officer at the scene told AFP on the condition of anonymity. The attack sparked a gun battle with forces on patrol in the area that left both of the militants dead, the officer said. Yawar Masoodi, a youth leader of the National Conference and the party workers were unharmed. The militants fled into nearby mustard fields after snatching the police officers’ weapons.

Government forces chased them, sparking the gun battle as reinforcements from a nearby army camp also moved in, the officer said. “Both the attackers were later neutralised and the snatched weapons also recovered,” Inspector General Nalin Prabhat from the federal Central Reserve Police Force said.

At the time, Masoodi was in a “closed door meeting” with party workers discussing election campaign plans, said National Conference spokesman Junaid Azim Mattu. “These two individuals arrived at the gate. On being stopped for frisking by the police guards they suddenly took out weapons from under their ferans (traditional Kashmiri tunics),” Mattu said.

Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, from the National Conference party, said the attack highlighted security concerns for all politicians in the region. The fighting has left tens of thousands, mostly civilians, dead in the past 25 years. “The attack on Yawar’s residence is evidence of the continued risk associated with being a mainstream politician in Kashmir,” Abdullah said on Twitter.