M A I N   N E W S

2 children killed in indiscriminate firing
House of peon in poll office attacked

Srinagar, September 1
Two minor children of an employee at the Poonch district election office were killed and their third minor sibling was injured in indiscriminate firing by unidentified gunmen late last night.

Elsewhere in the state, three security personnel and as many militants were among seven persons killed while security forces captured two militants during the past 24 hours.

An official spokesman said gunmen entered the house of Mr Mohammad Qayoum at Gunthal Surankote village late last night and fired indiscriminately on the inmates with automatic weapons.

Mr Qayoum’s 10-year-old son Rukhsar Ahmad and his 12-year-old daughter Zaheen Akhtar were killed on the spot while his 8-year-old daughter Rukshan was injured.

Mr Qayoum is working as a peon in the district election office at Poonch, where polling for three Assembly constituencies will be held on September 16 in the first phase of the election.

Meanwhile, a Special Police Officer of the Jammu and Kashmir police was killed when an explosive device fitted in a television set went off at the Gagran Shopian camp last night.

Official sources said SPO Shabir Ahmad was killed on the spot. The device blew off when he was taking his TV set inside the camp last night.

Meanwhile, the Army and Special Operation Group of the Jammu and Kashmir police conducted a search operation at Walkul in the frontier district of Kupwara late last night to arrest the militants hiding there, an official spokesperson said.

However, when the security forces were sealing the area, they came under heavy fire from the militants. The troops retaliated and a foreign militant was killed in the encounter.

One soldier lost his life and another was wounded in the encounter, he said, adding that one AK rifle, five magazines, 60 rounds of ammunition, four grenades and one wireless set were seized from the slain militant.

In another incident, the Border Security Force and SOG in a joint operation at Chillipora in the south Kashmir district of Pulwama killed two militants today.

At Naidgam Chatroo last evening, at least three Army personnel were injured when militants attacked a patrol party. One of the injured soldier later died in hospital.

At Mandwal Gundna, militants kidnapped and later killed Assadullah, alias Asdu Bhat, last night

Security forces arrested one militant each at Karewa and Tral in Pulwama district last night and seized one AK rifle, eight magazines, 44 rounds and one grenade from them.

Meanwhile, Nazir Ahmad, Chief Editor of an Urdu daily Subah Kashmir has been arrested by SOG.

According to family members of Ahmad, the SOG, assisted by the Central Reserve Police Force, cordoned off his house at Bemina in Srinagar late last night.

They said the man who arrested Ahmad identified himself as an Inspector of the cargo camp of SOG.

They picked up Ahmad and took him away in a gypsy without saying anything, the family members added.

Journalists have strongly condemned the arrest saying it was a direct attack on the freedom of Press and demanded Ahmad’s immediate release. UNI