Anantnag: A policeman was shot at by unidentified gunmen Sunday evening here in Bijbehara area of south Kashmir’s Anantnag district.
The attack happened while the entire Anantnag district is under unprecedented security cover for the Amarnath Yatra.
The policeman has been identified as constable Firdaus Ahmad, a resident of Hugam village in Srigufwara area of Bijbehara. “He had a bullet injury in his thigh and has been shifted to Srinagar after we administered first aid to him here at the SDH,” a doctor at Sub-District Hospital Bijbehara said.
He said that the condition of the injured policeman was stable.
The incident took place at about 7:15 PM, in Hugam village. “The policeman was at his home when militants barged in and shot at him,” a senior police official said, adding that the militants fled after opening fire, leaving Firdaus in a pool of blood.
The official said that the family raised a cry for help and managed to shift him to the hospital, “well in time”.
Following the incident, the police have registered an FIR and an investigation has been taken up. “The area was also cordoned off and searches were being carried out to try and nab the attackers,” the police official said.
This is the second violent incident in Anantnag district since the beginning of this year’s Amarnath Yatra. Earlier, on June 29, two militants were killed in a gunfight with government forces in Mirbazar area.
Security has been beefed up in the entire Kashmir valley, south Kashmir in particular, as the Yatra goes on. Hundreds of new bunkers have come up along the route of the Yatra, as thousands of forces’ personnel remain on vigil twenty-four seven.

Suhail A Shah