Militants carry out 2 attacks against policemen in Jammu and Kashmir

The first incident was reported from Budgam district, which falls under Srinagar Parliamentary seat going to polls in the second week of April, where militants barged into the house of a sub-inspector on Saturday night and took his son and a nephew hostage, ransacked the house and set a car ablaze. 

The militants drove away in the car with the two boys but let them off later, setting the vehicle on fire, police said. The incident came barely three weeks after militants had barged into the house of a senior police officer in Shopian in South Kashmir and ransacked his house, sending a shockwave among police officers fighting militancy for last 26 years. The militants entered the house of Sub Inspector M Subhan Bhat and started ransacking his house in Chadoora area of the district in central Kashmir, official sources said, adding that they later took his son and a nephew as hostage and drove away in the car.

According to the police, the militants said they wanted to kill the officer who is currently posted at the Baramulla district jail, where militant-turned separatist leader Masarat Alam is lodged. 

Two Hizbul Mujahideen militants were killed on Sunday when they tried to ambush a police party that included three officers of the rank of superintendent of police in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district. One of the slain militants has been identified as Shahbaz Safi Wani alias Rayees Kachru, who was active in the area since June, 2016.