Night patrolling in Kashmir villages to prevent killings of soft targets: J&K Police

Srinagar, April 6 (IANS) The J&K Police and the security forces have started night patrolling in Kashmir villages, Vijay Kumar, Inspector General of Police (IGP) said on Wednesday.

Talking to some reporters here, the IGP said, "Militants involved in recent attacks on two non-local labourers in Pulwama have been identified. Since December last year, 66 militants have been killed.

"Police along with the security forces have started night patrolling in the remote villages of Kashmir, where non-locals work and Kashmiri Pandits live, to prevent militant attacks on soft targets.

"Militants involved in attacks on non-locals in Pulwama and a Kashmiri Pandit in remote village of Shopian have been identified.

"Foreign militants are pushing locals forward to keep themselves safe, but we are tracking foreign militants and will either arrest them or kill them in encounters.

"Two militants killed in Tral encounter were involved in the killing of a Sarpanch, Sameer Ahmed in Khonmoh (Srinagar) besides a series of other attacks, including grenade throwing incidents, etc.

"They were operating in Srinagar and had shifted to Tral recently," the IGP said.