Unknown militants on Saturday shot dead two persons, one of them a police constable, in Sopore, in Baramullah district, 50 km north of Srinagar.
Coincidentally or otherwise, this comes a day after Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram said the police would be at the forefront of counter-insurgency operations in the state.
The Zonal Police Headquarters, in a statement, said the incident took place at a local bus stand at about 11 am. “Unknown militant fired at two persons near the bus stand, killing them on the on spot,” it added.
Hindustan Times learns that the militants shot them at point blank range.
The dead were identified as Constable Ghulam Nabi, 35, who was posted at Humhama in Srinagar, and Asif Ahmad Dar, 22, the brother of a hotel owner.
The incident has occurred a day after Chidambaram said militancy has declined considerably but agitational politics has increased in Kashmir.
These killings come at a time when Kashmir, which has witnessed massive unrest over the last two weeks over the murder and rape of two women in Shopian, was just limping back to normal.