Unidentified gunmen kill policeman in Indian-controlled Kashmir

An Indian policeman was killed on Saturday after unidentified gunmen fired upon him in restive Indian-controlled Kashmir, police said.

The policeman was attacked in morning at his native village Quil of Pulwama district, about 39 km south of Srinagar city, the summer capital of Indian-controlled Kashmir.

"Gunmen today morning fired upon, from point-blank range, at a police constable Khurshid Ahmad Ganai who was on way to reach his duty," a police official posted in the district said. "Ganai posted at district police lines in Pulwama died on spot."

Though following the attack, some bystanders immediately removed Ganai to nearest hospital but doctors pronounced him dead.

The unidentified gunmen, who police suspect were militants fled from the spot soon after the attack, reports said. Earlier this month, gunmen killed a policeman in a similar attack in Kulgam district of the region.

So far, no militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack.

A guerrilla war is going on between militants and Indian troopers stationed in the region since 1989. However, of late Indian policemen too have been trained to fight militants.

Militants in the region usually target families and individuals for their possible links with Indian police and defense agencies. Even people having associations with pro-India political parties are targeted at times.

Meanwhile, locals fished out body of a youth from River Jehlum in Sangam village of district Anantnag. According to locals, the youth drowned in the river following a chase from paramilitary troopers on Friday.

"Yesterday three young boys jumped into the river here to escape police chase during protests," Fayaz Ahmad, a local told Xinhua over telephone. "While two of them managed to swim safely to the river bank, the third one went missing in the current of water and his body was fished out today."

A paramilitary spokesman of India's Central reserve Police Force (CRPF) told a local newspaper that their men were supposed to chase the stone-pelting protesters.

"What can you expect from CRPF men when there is a stone-pelting mob? We are supposed to chase them,"the newspaper quoted the spokesman as having said.

Large-scale protests against New Delhi's rule are going on in the Muslim majority areas of the restive region since July 8, following the killing of a top militant commander.

So far, 67 civilians were killed and thousands of others including government forces personnel were injured in the ongoing unrest. Despite prolonged curfew and restrictions to clampdown on protesters, there seems to be no end to the cycle of clashes and protests.

Kashmir, the Himalayan region divided between India and Pakistan, is claimed by both in full. Since their independence from Britain, the two countries have fought three wars, two exclusively over Kashmir. Endit