SPO shot dead by militants at his home in J&K

Srinagar: A special police officer (SPO) was shot dead by suspected militants inside his home in Jammu and Kashmir’s southern Anantnag district on Thursday evening.

His wife was critically injured in the shootout, the police said, adding she has been admitted in a local hospital. Militants on Thursday night also targeted an army patrolling party with rifle fire in Ahgam area of neighbouring Shopian district.

The officials said the soldiers of the Army’s 44 Rashtriya Rifles were patrolling Ahgam at around 8.30 pm when the militants opened fire at them. The soldiers returned the fire and the exchange continued for some time but no casualties were reported.

The Army reinforcements along with J&K police’s counterinsurgency Special Operations Group (SOG) and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) has launched a search operation in the area, reports said.

In a separate incident, unknown gunmen shot at a 25-year-old teacher in Khandaypora village of Kulgam district late Thursday, police said. It said that the teacher Sayer Ahmad Wani was attacked outside a mosque when he was returning to a seminary where he teaches. He sustained a bullet wound in his leg.