J&K: Suspected terrorists make away with cop's AK-47, threaten him

The incidents of snatching guns from the security personnel has reduced in the past one year or so as compared to 2016-17. But on Friday (March 8), suspected terrorists on Friday snatched the service rifle of a policeman in Jammu and Kashmir's Kishtwar district, said reports.

An AK-47 automatic rifle of Personal Security Officer (PSO) of Deputy Commissioner Kishtwar was looted from his residence in Kishtwar last night (Friday), reported news agency ANI today.

PSO Daleep Kumar claimed that some masked gunmen intruded into his residence at Shaheedi Mazar area of the town late night and fled with his AK-47 rifle and mobile phone after threatening him and his family, PTI reported officials as saying. In 2016, gun snatching incidents in Jammu and Kashmir had become a routine. Several incidents of terrorists snatching guns from security personnel in the Valley took place then following a video by the Hizbul Mujahideen. 

In the video which did rounds in 2016, a Hizbul Mujahideen commander had urged the youth to snatch weapons from government forces. The Indian army had then expressed concern over such incidents. After Friday's incident, the area was immediately cordoned off and a massive hunt was launched to nab the gunmen and recover the looted weapon. The PSO was being questioned, the officials said adding further details are awaited. In July 2018, suspected terrorists stepped up their activities in the Valley, looting three banks and snatching five service rifles from policemen at three different spots in south Kashmir, all in the course of one day.

In 2016, as per the Home Ministry data, around 70 weapons, including 62 rifles, six pistols and a Tasar gun, were snatched in 16 weapon snatching incidents. The data further revealed that 12 AK magazines, 34 magazines of SLRs, 131 magazines of Insas rifle and four carbine magazines were also snatched from the government forces in 2015.