Sopore: Yet another broad daylight cop killing

AHMED ALI FAYYAZ

SRINAGAR, Feb 9: In four days of killing a Police personnel and a civilian in a broad daylight strike on J&K Police, militants have gunned down yet another Head Constable well on the entrance of Police Station in the apple-town Sopore.

Informed sources in North Kashmir told Early Times that the militants in ambush fired pistol shots on Head Constable Mohammad Yusuf Sofi S/o Abdul Sattar Sofi of Counter Intelligence Kashmir (CIK) when he had parked his car at the nearby Tehsil Office premises and was entering Police Station of Sopore at 1050 hours. Apparently for fear of civilian casualties, Police guards did not retaliate till one-odd militant escaped from the spot. Sources said that later a guard fired some shots in the air.

Lying in a pool of blood, HC Mohammad Yusuf was evacuated and rushed to Sub District Hospital of Sopore where he breathed his last. According to KNS, Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman, Ehsan Illahi, claimed that militants of his organization carried out the attack and gunned down the Police personnel. Sofi was a resident of Manz Seer, a village in Sopore outskirts.

Even as Government has, of late, created an independent Police District for Sopore and appointed a fresh incumbent as SP Sopore, militants seem to have mounted up their pressure on Police and CRPF with remarkably increasing the frequency of their strikes---almost all carried out in broad daylight. On February 5th, militants had attacked a Police party in main chowk of Sopore, killing Head Constable Irshad Ahmed Mirza (IRP) of Thanna Mandi Rajouri and a local civilian.

Witnessing a flurry of militant activity since December last, Sopore has been gripped by fear of the gun after a pause of nearly three years. On December 30 last, militants gunned down four CRPF personnel at Janwari Crossing on Sopore-Bandipore Road and decamped with two of their weapons in a broad daylight strike. On January 8th, militants gunned down one Bilal Ahmed in Armpora locality for allegedly working for security forces. Later, on January 15th, militants conducted a fidayeen-type strike on Police Station Sopore, again in broad daylight, and left SP Sopore’s PSO and a civilian dead. They again managed to escape. Two of the militants got trapped during a Police-Army crackdown but both of them managed to escape after setting their hiding place on fire.

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