Jammu & Kashmir rattled as terrorists kill three within 24 hours

Terrorists sent a chilling reminder to the Mehbooba Mufti government when they carried out three killings — two of political workers and one of a former counter-insurgent — in the last 24 hours across the restive Kashmir Valley.

Imtiyaz Ahmad Khan, an advocate by profession, was killed when terrorists fired at him at South Kashmir’s Shopian district on Sunday evening.  

They later entered the house of Rashid Billa, a former government militia man and Ikhwan commander, and fired indiscriminately at him, killing him on the spot at Hajin in North Kashmir’s Bandiproa district. Ikhwan, a counter-insurgent group of surrendered militants, was created by the armed forces in the early ’90s to help in the fight against terror. Later, some of them started working with the police.

“Terrorists barged into Billa’s home and shot him dead. He had no security at his home,” Sheikh Zulfikar Azad, Senior Superintendent of Police, Bandipora, told DNA.

A massive security cordon has been put in place and search operations have been launched to hunt down the terrorists responsible for the killing of the former government militia men. Billa was among the few top counter-insurgents who had survived the terror onslaught.  

This is the third major assassination that has rocked the Valley in the last 24 hours. Bashir Ahmad Dar, 46, was killed and Altaf Ahmad, 47, was injured when militants fired indiscriminately at them near Qasabayar village in South Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Saturday night.