Terrorists looted six sophisticated rifles last night from a police post in the court complex of Shopian district in the South Kashmir.
According to official reports, the terrorists barged into the police post and overpowered the guards and took away their service rifles. The loot included four INSAS and one AK47 rifles.
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This is the second such incident within two days. Terrorists of Hizbul Mujahideen after killing five policemen accompanying a cash van of a bank in kulgam decamped with their service rifles on May 1.
In another incident on the same day, an AK47 rifle was snatched from a policeman in the border district town of Rajouri. All these weapons are so far untraceable.
The new crop of local terrorists was reportedly indulging in looting weapons from policemen as supply of weaponry from Pakistan was not coming due to snow on the high passes on the infiltration routes. Moreover, instead of sending foreign terrorists, Pakistani agencies were reportedly training the local youth of Kashmir in militant activities.
More than 100 youth are reported to have joined terrorist cadres following killing of a local militant Burhan Wani in July last year in an encounter in the South Kashmir. Thereafter, snatching and looting of weapons from policemen has become almost a daily affair.
More than 85 weapons, including 18 AK47 rifles, 14 INSAS, 23 SLRs, one carbine and a light machine gun were reportedly looted from police stations in South Kashmir in the past few months.
In a single incident in July last, a mob forcibly barged into a police station in South Kashmir and looted 11 AK47 rifles, 5 INSAS rifles, 7 SLRs, 6 pistols and one Taser gun and Pika gun each.
Meanwhile, an army jawan identified as Lance Naik Vishal Lohar of the 54 Rashtriya Rifles allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself with his service rifle in the Laam sector on the LOC in Rajouri district today.
The 33 years old soldier belonged to Karnataka. The army has ordered a court of enquiry into the incident.