

06 policemen including an SHO Feroz Ahmad martyred in Anantnag terror attack.Promise you Feroz we'll wipe out the whole killer terror gang. pic.twitter.com/nRnDDwHhQ2

— Imtiyaz Hussain (@hussain_imtiyaz) June 16, 2017

Hussain tweeted: "Promise you Feroz we'll wipe out the whole killer terror gang."Terrorists ambushed and killed Feroz and five other cops in a south Kashmir village yesterday, carrying out their biggest strike on state police in years. They also disfigured faces of the slain cops. A policeman's leg was also brutally mutilated.Anantnag deputy commissioner of police Syed Abid Shah also said Feroz had been one of the most brilliant officers in the state. "It's a colossal loss for all of us. We are all in shock."The ambush itself seemed to have been revenge for the forces' killing of two Lashkar-e-Toiba militants, including Commander Junaid Mattoo, in neighbouring Kulgam district - and came within hours of it.Two young civilians too had died in Kulgam as the forces fired on a stone-throwing mob trying to disrupt the operation.Lashkar has claimed responsibility for the ambush, which some reports suggested involved over a dozen militants - surprising because the massive concentration of forces ahead of the Amarnath Yatra should normally not give militants the luxury to move about in such numbers.State police chief S.P. Vaid said the group of six policemen had been on a routine patrol when their SUV was ambushed at Thajiwara Achabal in Anantnag district."The militants fired from all sides, giving the policemen no chance to retaliate. It seems they left only after making sure that all the occupants of the car were dead," a police source said. "They also took away their rifles.A massive hunt has been launched."The militants have in recent weeks carried out a series of attacks on the security forces, a worrying development ahead of the annual Amarnath Yatra that starts later this month.More than 200 additional companies of the paramilitary forces are being deployed to ensure a peaceful pilgrimage.Three policemen were killed and a fourth injured in two attacks in Srinagar and Kulgam districts yesterday. Insurgents had killed five policemen and two bank security guards during an attack on a cash van in Phambai, Kulgam, last month.Recently, the militants had issued a warning to the police to "quit" or be prepared to "die".