A Jammu and Kashmir Police sub-inspector was found shot dead on Saturday morning in a paddy field close to his home in Samboora village of Pampore tehsil in Pulwama, NDTV reported.
Preliminary investigation suggests that Farooq Ahmad Mir was shot by terrorists using a pistol when he left home to work in the fields on Friday evening, Kashmir Police wrote in a tweet.
Mir was employed with the ministerial wing of the Jammu and Kashmir Police and was posted at the 23rd battalion of the Indian Reserve Police. He was off-duty when he was shot on Friday, according to NDTV.
Since January, at least 20 targeted killings, including those of police officials, teachers and village heads, have been reported in Kashmir. Out of these, 13 were civilians – six were Hindus and seven were Kashmiri Muslims. Many of them have been shot point-blank in their homes or workplaces.
Also read: Targeted police killings reflect the changing nature of militancy in Kashmir
A spate of such killings forced the Jammu and Kashmir administration earlier this month to transfer 177 Kashmiri Pandit government school teachers to “safer places” in the Valley. Kashmiri Pandits had been protesting since government employee Rahul Bhat was shot dead in his office in Budgam’s Chadoora area on May 12.
Kashmiri leaders have said that the targeted killings have exposed the Centre’s claims that normalcy prevails in the Union Territory.
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