A police staffer who was kidnapped by terrorists in Pulwama returned home (Representational)
A police staffer who was kidnapped by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district has returned home, police said today, according to a news agency Press Trust Of India report.
The relatives of the special police officer or SPO, who was working as a cook, had earlier said he had gone to his aunt's house.
According to PTI quoting police officials, the special police officer was kidnapped by terrorists from his house at Chainattar village in south Kashmir's Tral area on Friday night.
SPOs are special police officers who help the police in day-to-day and anti-terrorism operations. They are not regular employees of the police force.
Jammu and Kashmir has seen several kidnappings of people in the security forces in recent times. Security analysts say the terrorists are targeting individuals to deter them from joining the police and the military.
After the Kulgam kidnapping and murder of a police constable who had come home on leave from his training centre in Jammu, the army and police had shot dead three terrorists within 12 hours.
Earlier this month, police constable Javed Ahmad Dar was kidnapped from his village in Shopian and killed by terrorists.
Last month, army jawan Aurangzeb was kidnapped and killed in Pulwama when he was going home for Eid.
The swift operation against the Kulgam terrorists was a clear signal to those targeting security personnel on leave that they will be dealt with quickly.
"One after the other, our security forces are successfully moving ahead in their anti-terrorism operations, but killings of local security personnel can be a conspiratorial design to discourage the local Kashmiri youth to join the security forces," Minister of State in the Prime Minister's Office Jitendra Singh had said.