NEW DELHI: The government imposed curfew in mountainous Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir and sounded high alert after militants snatched an assault rifle from the personal security officer (PSO) of a Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader on Friday.
Police sources said militants barged into the house of PDP Kishtwar district president Sheikh Nasir Kishtwar town in the morning, overpowered his PSO, snatched his AK-47 rifle and decamped with the weapon.
Immediately after the incident, police, CRPF and army men rushed to the area and launched a massive manhunt to track down the militants.
The security forces have set up temporary checkpoints and launched massive searches in the upper reaches of the forest area to track down the militants. The authorities, meanwhile, also sounded high alert and imposed curfew in Kishtwar, a communally sensitive district.
This is the second weapon snatching incident in Kishtwar this year. On March 8, militants had barged into the house of PSO Daleep Kumar and snatched his AK-47 rifle. The weapon snatching incident has come a day after J&K Police arrested three Jaish-e-Mohammed militants along with arms and ammunition.