After a brief lull, violence has rocked the troubled Kashmir Valley. Six policemen, a soldier, two civilians and two terrorists were killed in separate incidents in the last 24 hours.
On Friday, the terrorists ambushed a police party at Achabal in Anantnag district killing six police personnel, including Station House Officer (SHO) Feroz Ahmad Dar.
According to reports, the daring attack took place when the police party was travelling in a jeep on Anantnag-Achabal road near Kulgad village, situated at a distance of 65 km from Srinagar. The terrorists laid an ambush, overpowered the police personnel and fired at them. They fatally shot the policemen in their faces from a close range, disfiguring them and escaped with their weapons.
Terror outfit Lashker-e-Taiba has claimed responsibility for the attack. The attack came hours after LeT regional commander Junaid Mattoo and one of his associates were killed in an encounter with security forces in Arwani, which is situated at a distance of 20 kilometres from the place where the ambush took place. As security personnel were laying siege, some local youth took to roads and pelted stones at them. Two civilians, including a teenage boy, were also killed in the cross firing. The LeT ambush is seen as a revenge attack for the Arwani encounter.
A jawan was martyred along the Line of Control (LoC) when Pakistani soldiers fired at Indian posts in southern Naushera.
Last month, the security forces gunned down Hizbul Mujahideen commander Sabzar Ahmad Bhat, the successor of Burhan Wani. Kashmir has been on the boil since the Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani was killed by the Army in July last year.
Ever since the recent by-poll to Srinagar Lok Sabha constituency, a fresh spurt violence broke out in the valley. There is a palpable tension in the valley with the separatist forces calling for a 2016-like protests. The Valley has witnessed a spurt in incidents of violence and terrorist attacks in the last couple of months.
There is a nexus between the Pakistan, the terrorists operating in Kashmir, the separatists and the stone pelters. This has been established beyond doubts. Recently, the National Investigative Agency (NIA) has raided various locations in connection to the funding reportedly received by the separatists leaders to spread terror in Kashmir. It has been revealed that ISIS is pursuing a nefarious game-plan to turn Kashmir valley into a caliphate based on eighth-century Islam and Sharia law.
According to intelligence estimate, 250 terrorists are currently active in Jammu & Kashmir. South Kashmir is turning into the hotbed of home-grown militancy with around 100 terrorists reportedly operate in the area. The Army launched ‘Operation Clean Up’ to flush south Kashmir of terrorists.