Terrorists abduct eight kin of policemen in South Kashmir; police deny reports

Days after security forces in Jammu and Kashmir conducted multiple operations to crack down on the infiltration of terrorists from across the border, militants reportedly abducted eight family members of policemen following a raid in their houses late Thursday, according to sources.

The policemen, whose kin and family members were kidnapped, include Mohd Maqbool Bhat, Rafiq Ahmad Rather, Nazir Ahmad Sankar, Bashir Ahmad Makro, Ab. Salam Rather, Gowher Ahmad and  Aijaz. All the policemen are currently serving at Arwani, Kulgam, Tral, Humhama Badgam and some other districts in and around the Valley.

The abducted persons have been identified as Zubair Ahmad Bhat, Arif Ahmad Sankar, Faizan Ahmad Makro, Sumar Ahmad Rather, Yasir Ahmad Bhat, Bashir Ahmad Bhat, Nasir Ahmed, and Shabir Ahmad Zargar.

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Early in the day, another policeman was abducted from Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama by terrorists but was later released after being interrogated and thrashed. On Wednesday, terrorists also trapped one person identified as Asif Ahmed Rather from Pinglish Tral, the son of policeman Rafiq Ahmad Rather.

Meanwhile, a video of Asif's mother pleading the group of terrorists to show mercy and release her son went viral on social networking sites.

However, K Poswal, SSP Ganderbal has denied such reports, saying "No such incident has taken place in Ganderbal. We have verified from the ground and I myself have done an inspection this morning, everything is absolutely normal".

#JammuAndKashmir- No such incident has taken place in Ganderbal. We have verified from the ground & I myself have done an inspection this morning, everything is absolutely normal: K Poswal, SSP Ganderbal on reports of incidents of abduction in South Kashmir pic.twitter.com/V3v7dDgdZy

— ANI (@ANI) August 31, 2018

In the wake of this chilling incident, villagers across Jammu and Kashmir have been protesting at several places against the abduction while some others alleged that security forces have burnt the houses of terrorists after killing of four policemen during an encounter in Shopian.

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The abduction of around eight policemen's kin in Jammu and Kashmir is one of the unprecedented incidents in nearly two decades of the state's history of terror incidents.