It turned out to be a bloody Eid for policemen in south Kashmir

This was a bloody Eid for the police personnel vacationing at home in southern parts of Kashmir with militants launching a string of attacks on them.  At least three  policemen including a sub-inspector were shot dead while another one escaped a bid on his life miraculously.

The killings have caused much consternation among the families of police men and other security forces.

A policeman Fayaz Ahmad Shah, resident of Zazripora Kulgam was killed soon after the Eid prayers on Wednesday morning. Shah, who was undergoing police training  at Manigam training centre, had come home to celebrate Eid.

In a similar attack merely a few hours later, another policeman Mohd Yaqoob Shah was killed in Louswani village of district Pulwama outside his home.

An eyewitness said that Shah was outside his home when assailants suddenly appeared and fired a volley of bullets on him, killing him on the spot.

In the evening, barely an hour after the state police chief SP Vaid expressed his anguish over the killings, a police sub-inspector Mohammad Ashraf was pumped with lead in Larve village of Pulwama.

"They ignored the advisory issued time and again asking police men not to visit thier homes unprotected", Vaid said.

In the month of April, state police had issued an advisory asking its men to avoid visiting their native places for a few months.

A police officer, who did not wish to be named, said  the recent spurt in the killings is a serious cause of concern for security agencies.

"There is no doubt that increasing number of attacks on police personnel, political leaders and civilians have unnerved the security grid in the valley" he added.

He further said the killings have also panicked the families of policemen across all the four--Anantnag, Pulwama, Kulgam and Shopian-- districts of south Kashmir.

Militants also barged into the house of an Assistant Sub Inspector in Diaroo village of Shopian on late Wednesday evening and fired upon him. He, however, escaped  unhurt.

On late Tuesday evening, suspected militants also abducted a BJP activist Shabir Ahmad Bhat from his native village of Pathan Pulwama and his bullet ridden body was found after a few hours at nearby Rakh Litter village.

It may be recalled that masked men on August 17 barged into the parental house of a 47- year- old woman in Drubgam village of Pulwama and shot her dead.