J&K: Militants overpower NC leader Khanday's security guards in Kulgam, abscond with 4 service rifles

Militants attacked the guard post at the residence of a political leader in Kulgam district of Kashmir and decamped with rifles of policemen after disarming them, police said on Thursday.

The ultras barged into the residential compound of Abdul Rashid Khanday, who was earlier associated with National Conference, at Begom in Kulgam late Wednesday night and took away four service rifles of the cops posted on guard duty of the political leader, a police official said.

Earlier, police had said that Khanday is a block president of National Conference but a spokesman of the principal opposition party said he had severed ties with the party in 2002.

"The matter has been formally communicated to the police by party's district president Kulgam that Khanday is not associated with the National Conference," NC spokesman Junaid Azim Matuu said.

The official said the militants decamped with two INSAS rifles, one SLR rifle and a 303 rifle from the cops.

While a departmental inquiry has been set up to probe the incident, security forces have alerted in south Kashmir to track the militants who carried out the attack, he said.

Meanwhile, militants also fired a few rounds towards police station Pulwama last night but there was no damage due to the incident, the official said.