Terrorists gun down retired J&K cop during prayer call

A retired senior superintendent of police was shot dead inside a mosque on Sunday morning in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district while giving a call for prayers, a murder that shocked the region and came during a spree of terror attacks in Jammu & Kashmir.

- Mir Ehsan

Mohammad Shafi Mir, 72, was shot with pellets from a 12-bore gun, health officials said, while he was giving the morning azaan call from the neighbourhood mosque in Gantmulla village, an area largely considered peaceful and free from militancy.

The attack on the former police officer left locals and security agencies worried, and comes after a spate of targeted killings of serving Kashmiri police and army personnel.

In what has kept the Union territory on edge, three days earlier, a group of terrorists also ambushed an army convoy, killing four Rashtriya Rifles personnel, in Jammu’s Poonch. Three men picked up among a group of locals were later found dead, with their families alleging custodial torture and the incident triggering tensions.

In Mir’s killing, locals said he sustained multiple injuries and died on the way to a hospital.

Soon after the murder, senior police and army officers reached the spot and started gathering details while forensics teams collected samples from the crime scene.

Police confirmed Mir was attacked while praying. “Terrorists fired upon Shri Mohd Shafi, a retired police officer at Gantmulla, Sheeri #Baramulla, while praying Azan in the mosque and succumbed to injuries. Area has been #cordoned off. Further details awaited,” the J&K Police said in a post on X (formerly twitter).

In Jammu, restrictions remained in place as a wreath-laying ceremony was on Sunday held in Rajouri for the four soldiers who lost their lives after being ambushed by terrorists in Poonch, officials said.

A search operation to track down the fleeing terrorists continued near the scene of the ambush, while mobile internet services remained suspended in the twin districts for the second day on Sunday, they said.