Srinagar: Militants shot dead a special police officer (SPO), his wife and daughter in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district, officials said Monday. The ultras barged into the house of SPO Fayaz Ahmad at Hariparigam in Awantipora area at around 11.00pm Sunday. They opened fire on the family, the officials informed. The injured were rushed to a hospital where the SPO succumbed. His wife Raja Begum and daughter Rafia also died later on.
Security forces cordoned off the area and launched a search operation to track down the assailants but no arrests have been made so far. The searching operation is on, officials said Monday.
Militants have intensified attacks on cops and security forces. An inspector and a constable were killed in Nowgam and Eidgah areas of Srinagar last week. Prior to that, a civilian died in a grenade attack on security forces at Barbarshah in the heart of the city.
All mainstream political parties in Jammu and Kashmir condemned the killing of the SPO, his wife and daughter. They called it ‘dastardly and cowardly’ and a ‘form of terrorism’.
“I unreservedly condemn the dastardly and cowardly militant attack on the J&K police SPO Fayaz Ahmed, his wife and his young daughter at their home last (Sunday) night. I pray they receive their place in Jannat and their loved ones find strength during this terrible time,” National Conference (NC) vice-president Omar Abdullah wrote on Twitter.
PDP president Mehbooba Mufti said no words were strong enough to condemn the cowardly attack. “No words are strong enough to condemn the cowardly attack in Awantipora that claimed the lives of a JKP officer Fayaz Ahmad, his wife and daughter. May Allah Ta’aala grant them maghfirat and their loved ones the fortitude to bear this loss (sic),” Mufti tweeted.
Peoples Conference (PC) chairman Sajad Lone said the news of the killing was ‘extremely distressing’ and called the perpetrators ‘thugs of violence’.
