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Assassination attempt against Farooq Abdullah foiled in J&K; accused held
Abdullah and Choudhary had come to greet party leader B S Chouhan on the marriage of his son, the officials added.
National Conference president Farooq Abdullah and Jammu and Kashmir Deputy Chief Minister Surinder Choudhary were unhurt in an attack by a gunman on Wednesday. As per a PTI report, officials said the incident occurred outside a marriage hall in the outskirts of Jammu.
The accused, Kamal Singh Jamwal, a resident of Purani Mandi, was overpowered by security guards and was detained for questioning, officials said.
"An attempt was made on the life of Farooq Abdullah when he was attending a marriage ceremony at the Royal Park in Greater Kailash, Jammu. The security deployed with the protectee immediately swung into action, thwarted the attempt and took the accused into custody, who was later identified as Kamal Singh, son of Ajit Singh, a resident of Purani Mandi in Jammu," police said in a statement.
Abdullah and Choudhary had come to greet party leader B S Chouhan on the marriage of his son, the officials added.
Also Read | 'Allah is kind': J&K CM Omar Abdullah questions security after attack on father Farooq Abdullah
They said the accused, who is in his 70s, was waiting outside the venue and tried to fire at the JKNC chief.
However, two police personnel – an inspector and a sub-inspector – overpowered him, despite this, the accused managed to fire one shot before he was disarmed and taken into custody.
Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Omar Abdullah, who is also the son of Farooq Abdullah condemned the attack and raised questions over the level of security.
'Allah is kind. My father had a very close shave. The details are sketchy at the moment but what is known is that a man with a loaded pistol was able to get within point blank range & discharge a shot," he said on X.
"It was only the close protection team that deflected the shot & ensured that the assassination attempt failed. There are more questions than answers at the moment including but not limited to how someone was able to get this close to a Z+ NSG protected former CM," Abdullah added further.
