Srinagar, June 18: An off-duty police officer of the Jammu and Kashmir Armed Police was shot dead by terrorists in the Pulwama district of south Kashmir Friday night.
This was the ninth killing of a policeman this year. Police said Farooq Ahmad Mir, a sub-inspector with J&K Police (Ministerial Staff), left his home for his paddy fields in his native village of Samboora in Pampore on Friday evening.
On Saturday morning, locals spotted his body in the fields and informed the Police.
A Police team reached the spot and recovered his body which had a bullet wound on the chest.
“The body of Farooq Ahmad Mir of Samboora SI (M) posted in IRP 23 Bn was found in the paddy fields near his home. Preliminary investigation reveals that he had left his home for work in his paddy fields yesterday in the evening where he was shot dead by terrorists using a pistol,” Kashmir Zone Police tweeted Saturday morning.
A Cordon and Search Operation (CASO) in the area is underway to track down the attackers, Police said. However, no one was arrested.
The killing of the police officer in Pulwama took place two days after an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) was found by Police in the Litter area of the district.
Mir is the ninth policeman to have been killed this year.
While two were killed during gunfights, seven, mostly off-duty cops, have been killed in targeted attacks.
Earlier, in a spree of targeted killings, a bank manager was shot dead outside his office in the Kulgam district of south Kashmir.
The deceased was identified as Vijay Kumar.
Before Kumar, a 36-year-old female teacher Rajni Bala, hailing from Jammu’s Samba district, was shot dead at a government school in the Gopalpora area of Kulgam district.
Last month, two civilians including a Kashmiri Pandit employee Rahul Bhat and three off-duty policemen were shot dead in Kashmir.
WREATH-LAYING CEREMONY
To pay tribute and respect to Sub Inspector Farooq Ahmad Mir who was shot Friday late night, a wreath-laying ceremony was held at CTC Lehtpora.
Senior police officers and family members of Mir led by ADGP Armed and IR J&K S J M Gillani laid floral wreaths on the mortal remains and paid rich tributes to him.
Among others, DIG South Kashmir Range Abdul Jabbar, Commandant IRP 23 IR Bn, Atul Sharma, SSP Awantipora, Muhammad Yousif, Principal CTC Lehtpora, Tanveer Jeelani, Commandant 185 Bn CRPF Arun Kumar Jaitly and other senior officers and officials of the Police paid floral tributes to him.
BRIEF BIO
Farooq Ahmad Mir of Samboora, Pamopre was appointed to Jammu and Kashmir Police in the year 1998 as a constable, and in 2008 after qualifying for the departmental examination was elevated as SgCt (M).
In 2012 he was promoted to HC (M) and in 2018 to ASI (M).
In December last year, the officer was promoted to SI (M) and was posted as OSI in IRP 23 Bn.
He is survived by an aged father and two daughters, the elder one studying MBBS and the younger one studying in class 12th. His son is studying in class 7th.
“J&K Police Pariwar pays rich tributes to the martyr and will stand by his family and provide all possible help and assistance to the bereaved family,” a Police spokesman said in a statement.