New Delhi: A police officer was shot dead by militants while working in his paddy fields near his home in Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir, officials said Saturday, June 18.
“Body of Farooq Ahmad Mir, a senior police official was found in paddy fields near his home in Pampore town,” a senior police official in Sringar told Reuters.
Mir was a resident of Samboora in Pampore area of the south Kashmir district, officials said. He was shot dead on the intervening night of Friday and Saturday. The officer was posted in the Indian Reserve Police or IRP battalion of the Jammu and Kashmir police.
“Dead body of Farooq Ah Mir of Samboora Si(M) posted in IRP 23 BN was found in paddy fields near his home. Preliminary #investigation reveals that he had left his home for work in his paddy fields yesterday in the evening, where he was shot dead by #terrorists using a pistol,” Kashmir Zone Police wrote on Twitter.
Dead body of Farooq Ah Mir of Samboora Si(M) posted in IRP 23 BN was found in paddy fields near his home. Preliminary #investigation reveals that he had left his home for work in his paddy fields yesterday in the evening, where he was shot dead by #terrorists using a pistol.
— Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) June 18, 2022
As per News18, this was the third murder of a police official in the span of a month.
On May 24, a constable was killed while his nine-year-old daughter was injured when suspected militants opened fire on them outside their house in Soura, on the outskirts of Srinagar.
On May 13, another police officer was killed by militants in the Union Territory’s Budgam district.
This incident took place just a day after two Lashkar-e-Tayyabba terrorists shot dead a Kashmiri Pandit employee in a crowded government office in Budgam district on May 12.
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No militant group has claimed responsibility for the latest killing.
At least 17 people have been killed by militants in Kashmir this year.
A spate of killings have particularly targeted minority community government officials, teachers and civilians in Kashmir.
Nearly two weeks ago, on June 2, a minor migrant labourer was shot dead while another injured by militants in Budgam district of Jammu and Kashmir. The labourer was a resident of Bihar. Hours before this attack, a bank employee from Rajasthan, Vijay Kumar, was shot dead in Kulgam district of the Union Territory.
Indian forces have claimed they have killed at least 110 militants in Kashmir this year, double the toll in the same period last year.
(With inputs from agencies)