Cop killed in militant attack at police station in Jammu and Kashmir’s Shopian

Militants shot dead on Sunday a constable guarding a police station in south Kashmir’s Shopian district, continuing attacks weeks before the state holds local body and panchayat elections. Saqib Ahmad Mir, 23, was injured when militants fired indiscriminately at the Shopian police station and died in a hospital. Banned group Hizbul Mujahideen kidnapped and killed three policemen, two of them special police officers (SPO), two weeks ago. On Thursday, six persons, including a civilian and an unidentified man, were killed in four separate incidents of violence across Kashmir. A SPO, who was deployed with a People’s Democratic Party MLA, ran off with seven rifles from the lawmaker’s residence in Srinagar, police said on Friday. The escalation in violence comes ahead of the scheduled urban local body and panchayat polls in Jammu and Kashmir which will be held from October to December. While militants and separatists have asked people to boycott, the polls are being seen as part of the Centre’s efforts to turn the tide in the state, where local militant recruits and violence have escalated since Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani’s killing in July 2016. Source: Hindustan Times