Militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba outfit have gunned down four police personnel in an ambush at Hygam in Sopore area of Baramulla district in the evening on Friday.
Inspector General of Police Kashmir Abdul Gani Mir told The Hindu that a party of Sopore Police proceeded to Hygam village on Srinagar-Baramulla highway after receiving information on the movement of a group of militants at 5.30 p.m. As soon as the policemen reached Hygam and came out of their vehicles, militants in ambush opened fire on them from different sides from automatic weapons.
The militants decamped with three automatic weapons of the constables and Special Police Officers [SPOs] killed in the attack.
IGP said that the policemen who died on spot in the attack, first of its kind in recent times, included Head Constable Abdul Rahim, Constable Mudasir and two SPOs, Gulshan Ahmad and Mudasir Ahmad Parray. Police and security forces are rushing to the village to launch a combing operation. He said that identity of the militant was not clear immediately.
Independent sources, however, maintained that a group of LeT militants carried out the attack.
