Militant outfit Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen (JUM) on Monday claimed responsibility for Sunday’s attack on Jammu and Kashmir law and parliamentary affairs minister Ali Muhammad Sagar here.
“The attack was carried out as a reaction to the shameful statement of (Union minister) Farooq Abdullah for reopening cinema halls and liquor shops,” said JUM spokesperson Jamil Ahmad.
Ahmad said the attack on Sagar was carried out by the group’s Al Jabbar squad. He also warned of more attacks on the ruling National Conference and other “pro-India” parties.
One policeman was killed and three others, including Sagar’s driver, were injured when militants opened fire at a function in the minister’s ancestral house in the Nawa Bazaar locality of the old city. Sagar, however, escaped unhurt.
“I had gone there to attend a social function and as soon as I entered the house, they opened a volley of gunfire,” Sagar said.
Chief minister Omar Abdullah condemned the attack terming it as an act of cowardice. During the early 1990s, JUM had raided and burnt several liquor shops and movie halls. The police claimed the JUM had no base in Srinagar.