4 killed, 3 wounded in militant attack on police in Kashmir

Srinagar, India, Jun 12 (EFE).- Two police officers and two civilians were killed Saturday in Indian-administered Kashmir after militants attacked a security forces convoy, police said.

The civilians were caught in the cross fire at town square in Sopore, some 45 kilometers from Srinagar, the regional summer capital, Director General of Jammu Kashmir Police (DGP) Dilbagh Singh said.

Two officers and a civilian who is in critical condition were being treated for wounds sustained in the attack.

An official at the Police Control Room (PCR) told Efe that an unknown number of militants hurled grenades and showered bullets on the police soon after they came out of the armored vehicle they were travelling in in Sopore.

The attack comes after militants killed a ruling BJP local leader in south Kashmir’s Tral area on June 2.

The assassination of the right-wing Hindu leader sparked new concerns in the region amid fears that New Delhi would increase controls over the Muslim-majority region, which had its semi-autonomous statehood controversially removed by Narendra Modi’s government in August 2019.

The Jammu and Kashmir National Conference (JKNC) alliance “unequivocally” condemned the deaths in Sopore and called on the “government to ensure an end to such brutal loss of lives,” said the organization led by former local government chiefs Omar Abdullah, Mehbooba Mufti and former minister Sajad Lone.

Omar and Mehbooba are part of an alliance formed to “fight for the restoration of the special status and statehood” of the region divided between India and Pakistan since 1947 and claimed in its entirety by both.

The idyllic Himalayan region of Kashmir has been a disputed region since 1947 when India and Pakistan gained independence from Britain.

The two countries, which have fought three wars, including two over Kashmir, claim the divided territory in its entirety.