SRINAGAR: The Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Shopian Ambarkar Shriram Dinkar escaped unhurt after militants attacked his vehicle in restive south Kashmir’s Shopian district on Saturday.
Militants fired on the bullet-proof vehicle of Dinkar at Hajipora area of Shopian district this morning.
The policemen escorting the SSP retaliated the fire and both sides exchanged gunfire for some minutes.
The police officer escaped unhurt in the militant attack.
After the attack, militants escaped from the spot and police and army men launched the combing operation to track down the attackers.
However, no arrests were reported during the hour-long operation.
Dinkar told New Indian Express that he is safe and some bullets fired by militants from a hilly terrain hit his bullet proof vehicle.
Some bullets also hit the windscreen of the vehicle.
SSP said the policemen exhibited restraint and retaliated in cautious manner to avoid the collateral damage.
Dinkar said the exchange of gunfire between policemen and militants continued for 2-3 minutes.
He said 2-3 militants were involved in the attack and manhunt has been launched to track them down, who belonged to a local group.
SSP was on way to attend a function organised by army’s 34 RR in Kulgam district.
The Lashkar-e-Toiba and Hizbul Mujahideen militants are active in Shopian district.
Shopian has turned into stronghold of militants and many militant attacks and encounters have taken place in the district in last few years.
Body of third militant recovered from encounter site
The death toll in encounter between militants and security forces in Balhama-Khunmoh area in outskirts of Srinagar reached to three with recovery of body of a foreign militant Abu Hamas from the debris of two houses damaged in the encounter.
The encounter had broken out on Thursday and bodies of two local militants of Ansar Ghazwat-ul-Hind (AGH) were recovered yesterday.
The militants had taken refuge in the houses in the area after their attempt to attack a BJP leader Dr Anwar Khan was foiled by his security guards yesterday afternoon. Khan’s Personal Security Officers (PSOs) had fired on the militants and in the shootout a security guard was injured.