The attack on 6 policemen came just hours after the encounter of Lashkar commander Junaid Mattoo
A day after six policemen were killed in an ambush and their bodies disfigured by heavily-armed terrorists in south Kashmir's Anantnag, Defence Minister Arun Jaitley has called it "an act of cowardice".
Sub-inspector Feroz Ahmed Dar, four policeman and their driver were killed when their jeep was attacked by a group of 10-15 Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists in Achabal in Anantnag district. Reports said the terrorists came in two vehicles and surrounded the police jeep.
The terrorists, after the ambush was over, got into the police vehicle and sprayed bullets at the bodies from point blank range to disfigure them.
"We will track down the attackers," Jammu and Kashmir Director General of Police (DGP) SP Vaid said today. "This was a revenge attack."
The attack came just hours after the encounter of local Lashkar commander Junaid Mattoo, who was involved in several attacks on security forces in south Kashmir. Junaid and two other terrorists were trapped in a building in Anantnag's Arwani on Friday and killed in an encounter.
After the encounter, two civilians were also killed after security forces opened fire at a crowd marching towards the encounter site. Police said crowd threw stones and tried to break the security cordon.
After the incident, clashes broke out between protesters and security forces at nearly a dozen places in the Valley, including downtown Srinagar, Tral, Pampore, Pulwama town and Anantnag in south Kashmir, Hajin in Bandipora and Sopore in Baramulla in north Kashmir.
Meanwhile, Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti said that the policemen were killed because democracy is denied in Jammu and Kashmir. "Dialogue with separatists is the only way forward," she said.
Authorities have imposed restrictions in Srinagar and other sensitive places in the Kashmir Valley today, while separatists have called for a protest shutdown.
(With inputs from agencies)