Bullet-ridden body of a 23-year-old Army soldier, Irfan Ahmad Dar, from Kashmir was found about 2 km away from his home in Shopian of South Kashmir on Saturday, after he wad abducted by militants on Friday evening.

Irfan, who was posted in the Gurez sector (Bandipura) on the LoC in the engineering wing of the 175 Battalion of the Territorial Army (TA) and was on 10-day leave, when he was kidnapped by militants and shot dead in an orchard.

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Several empty rounds of assault rifle were found near his body. He was to report back on duty on 27 November, said an Army officer.

The 23-year-old was abducted on Friday evening from his house in the Senzen village of Shopian district.

Police said that his body was spotted in the morning by locals in an orchard in the Wothmula village and they immediately informed the police. The body of the soldier was returned to his family after postmortem.

Irfan is the third off-duty soldier from Kashmir to have been abducted and killed by terrorists in the past few months.

Kidnapping and subsequent killing of an Army officer, Lieutenant Umar Fayaz, in the month of May had triggered angry reactions from the locals. He belonged to the Sursona village in the Kulgam district in South Kashmir

Fayaz was posted at Akhnoor in Jammu and was on leave to attend a marriage in the family at his native place in Kulgam, when he was abducted and his bullet-ridden body was found at a distance the next morning.

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A BSF soldier, Mohammad Ramzan Parray, was shot dead by terrorists when he resisted an attempt to kidnap him.

Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti while strongly condemning the brutal killing of Irfan Ahmed said that such heinous acts will not weaken our resolve to establish peace and normalcy in the valley.

Strongly condemn the brutal killing of Irfan Ahmed ,a brave Territorial Army soldier at Shopian.
Such heinous acts will not weaken our resolve to establish peace and normalcy in the valley.

— Mehbooba Mufti (@MehboobaMufti) November 25, 2017

“The murder of young Irfan Dar is a very tragic & reprehensible act. My unqualified condemnation & heartfelt condolences to his family”, said former Chief Minister Omar Abdullah.

The murder of young Irfan Dar is a very tragic & reprehensible act. My unqualified condemnation & heartfelt condolences to his family. https://t.co/fzwlInBjtg

— Omar Abdullah (@OmarAbdullah) November 25, 2017

The police have initiated investigation into the murder and the hunt for the unidentified gunmen is on, officials said.

Shopian district police chief, Ambarkar Shriram Dinkar, said “We got to know about the incident at 10 am, when a police team was rushed to the spot”. Irfan’s car was found near the murder spot.

Irfan’s killing has come a day before the Interlocutor Dineshwar Sharma was scheduled to camp in the ground zero in South Kashmir to listen to the grievances and suggestions of residents of the area that is worst affected due to terrorism.

The Army has launched the “Operation All Out” in South Kashmir to cleanse the area of terrorism. Nearly 200 terrorists were this year killed in encounters in South Kashmir.

(With agency inputs)