J&K cop killed in pursuit of militants

SRINAGAR: A Jammu & Kashmir Police officer was killed in a shootout while in hot pursuit of a group of Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists at Gund Dachin, Bandipora district, on Wednesday .

Sources said the slain officer, Altaf Ahmad, was part of a special police team from Srinagar chasing the terrorists, including LeT commander Abu Qasim, while they were driving to Bandipora. "The moment the team intercepted the car at Gund Dachin, the militants fired, causing serious injuries to sub-inspector Altaf Ahmad," a source said.

The police team retaliated and fired on the car, but the terrorists managed to escape from the scene. Ahmad succumbed to his injuries at an Army hospital in Srina gar. He headed a special in vestigation team that probed militancy-related cases.

A police spokesman said Ahmad had been on Qasim's tail for a couple of days.

"The officer had in formed the Bandipora sta tion house officer about it (their car approaching) and got a barricade put up," he said. "Ahmad was chasing the militants' vehicle, sure it would be intercepted at the barricade. But near Gund Dachin village, the militants got out and fired on the car carrying the po lice team."

Inspector general of po lice (Kashmir) Syed Javaid Mujtaba Geelani said the slain police officer was an asset to the department. "He had done a tremendous job on the anti-terrorism front It is really a big loss for us."