Three abducted policemen shot dead by militants in Valley

The bullet-perforated bodies of three policemen, who were abducted by militants early on Friday morning, have been found at a village in south Kashmir's Shopian district. The fourth abducted man, who was brother of a policeman, was set free

The bodies of the slain policemen  identified as constable Nisar Ahmad Dhobi, a resident of Kapran village,  Special Poice Officer Kuldeep Singh and follower Firdose Ahmad Kuchay, both residents of Heepora Batagund were recovered from a  nearby Wangam village.

A police official said that militants on early Friday morning kidnapped a policeman and the brother of another cop  from their residences at Kapran village, some 13 Kms from the main town Shopian, while two others were picked off from their homes in an adjacent Heepora Batgund village.

The policemen, according to the official, were vacationing at home.

Barely four hours later, their bullet perforated bodies were found by locals near a private school in nearby Wangam village, he said.

"Fayaz Ahmad, the brother of policeman Nisar Ahmad Bhat was, however, released safely" he  added.

While Dhobi and Kuchay were interred in their ancestral grave yards, the last rites of the Singh were not performed as his family was at Jammu. “As soon as his family reaches here, he will be cremated,” said a relative of Singh.

The move came a couple of days after the Hizbul Mujahideen operational commander Riyaz Naikoo in a audio message asked SPOs to give up their jobs or face the consequences.

On August 29 and 30 militants had abducted as many as 12 relatives of policemen during a string of raids at their residential houses. They, however, were later set free after the family members of militants picked by the police were released.

Earlier on August 29 and 30 militants abducted over a dozen relatives of policemen from the four districts—Pulwama, Shopian, Kulgam and Anantnag—of south Kashmir after police had picked up the family members of militants and allegedly vandalised their properties.

The abduction crisis had caused much consternation among the families of policemen as well as the security establishment.