NEW DELHI, Jan 29: In yet another incident of terrorist attack on security staff, a policeman was shot dead by suspected militants outside his residence in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Saturday evening.
Police said Ali Mohammad Ganie, a head constable posted in nearby Kulgam district, was fired upon by the suspected militants wounding him critically. He was rushed to hospital but succumbed to bullet injuries.
“Today at about 1730 hrs Anantnag Police received information about a terror crime incident at Hasanpora Tabala area of Bijbehara Anantnag where terrorists had fired upon a police personnel,” police said in an official release. “Officers attending the terror crime spot learnt that Head Constable Ali Mohammad Ganie was shot at by the terrorists near his residential house at Hasanpora Tabala area of Bijbehara Anantnag. In this terror incident, he had received grievous gunshot injuries. Although the injured police personnel was immediately evacuated to nearby hospital, he succumbed to injuries and attained martyrdom.”
Police sources say that Ganie was fired at by the militants from a very close range and was immediately rushed to the Government Medical College Anantnag.
Ganie is the first policeman killed in a militant attack this year. The militant attacks on policemen have seen a steep rise over the last one year. The official figures show that the J-K police personnel are becoming the prime target of militants, especially in the Kashmir valley. Of the 42 security personnel killed in Jammu and Kashmir last year, 21 were from J-K Police. In Kashmir valley, 20 out of the 29 security personnel killed in 2021 belonged to J-K Police.
Soon after the militant attack, a joint team of J-K Police, paramilitary forces and Army rushed to the place of incident and launched a massive cordon and search operation to track the militants behind the attack.
(Manas Dasgupta)