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Updated: Jul 20, 2019 00:51 IST

Suspected militants shot dead a personal security officer (PSO) of Peoples Democratic Party (PDP) leader Sajjad Mufti, a relative of PDP president and former Jammu and Kashmir chief minister Mehbooba Mufti, in south Kashmir’s Anantnag on Friday afternoon, the police said.

So far, no militant group has owned up the attack.

Constable Farooq Ahmad Reshi was killed outside a mosque in Bijbhera when Friday prayers were in progress. The incident took place 50 metres away from Sajjad Mufti’s house. Locals said Sajjad along with his father was inside the mosque offering prayers when the gunman attacked the police constable. They also snatched his weapon before fleeing, said S P Pani, inspector general of police (Kashmir). Another police official said Reshi was attached to District Police Lines Anantnag.

Soon after the incident, the police and the army launched a search operation to track down the killer. This is the second such incident in the Anantnag district in the past four days. On July 15, a policeman guarding a National Conference (NC) leader was killed by suspected militants in Hillar area of the district.

The killing of policemen has evoked sharp reactions from political parties. “Who’s killing whom and who’s winning in this madness here in Valley. Killing of a local cop for...a gun or attacking a politician going for Nimaz it’s unacceptable. What times are we facing,” Waheed ur Rehman Parra, president of PDP’s youth wing, tweeted on Friday.

Former J&K chief minister and NC vice-president Omar Abdullah also condemned the incident. “Another police bodyguard killed in the line of duty in south Kashmir... I pray for the soul of the departed...”

Meanwhile, mobile internet services have been suspended in parts of south Kashmir, though the reason for this was not immediately known.