SRINAGAR, 3 February 2007 — Four policemen were killed and an equal number wounded when militants ambushed a police party in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district yesterday evening.
A senior police officer said militants used grenades and automatic weapons to ambush a police vehicle near Rakh Litter village, 50 km from here. The police party was returning after a routine guard checking at Shopian. “Four policemen were killed on the spot and four others were critically wounded. The injured have been referred to Srinagar hospital for specialized treatment,” said a senior police officer.
Reinforcements had to be rushed to evacuate the injured and mount searches around the ambush site. Police said one person was detained. So far no group has claimed responsibility for the attack.
Earlier, police fired tear gas shells to disperse protesters at a graveyard where two bodies were exhumed yesterday as part of an investigation into police shootings, witnesses said.
Two policemen were arrested last weekend and two officers transferred over accusations they staged a gunbattle and killed Abdul Rahman Paddar, a carpenter who police said was a militant. An inquiry was lodged after a public outcry, which also forced police to probe four similar killings.
Protests erupted yesterday in Sumbal, near Kashmir’s main city of Srinagar, where Paddar, a father of five, was buried in December. His body was exhumed as part of the investigation into his death.
About 2,000 people gathered near the town’s graveyard after police and forensic experts started removing bodies of two other people, also believed to have been killed in staged clashes. Angry protesters pelted police with stones, shouting: “Stop fake encounters...Down with police.” Police fired tear gas shells to disperse them, witnesses said. No one was injured.
A senior police officer told national TV last week that two men involved in the Paddar incident had been paid for the killing, under a program that rewards security personnel who capture or kill militants.
