Kulgam, May 31: A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) soldier was attacked by a man armed with an axe in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Wednesday. The armed man attacked the jawan for stealing his rifle but failed to do so. According to officials, the CRPF soldier, Ashok Kumar who belonged to the 18th battalion, was deployed outside the deputy commissioner’s office in Kulgam. The man with an axe attacked Kumar from behind.

“The attacker hit the jawan in his back and tried to snatch his rifle. But the jawan resisted bravely forcing the assailant to run away,” reported Hindustan Times quoting CRPF spokesman Sanjay Sharma as saying. Kumar was admitted to army’s 92-base hospital. He is now out of danger. According to the CRPF spokesperson, the soldier deployed in the area did not fire because of a large number of passersby outside the deputy commissioner’s office

Following the central government’s decision not to carry out any security operations against terrorists in Kashmir Valley in the month of Ramzan, incidents of snatching weapons have become common. According to a report published in Hindustan Times, at least eight weapons have been snatched by suspected terrorists or gone missing from police custody this month.

On May 11, a constable was killed in a suspected terrorist attack on a police post. The post was set up to guard members of the minority community in central Kashmir’s Budgam. The main aim of the terrorists was to snatch weapons, but failed.

According to a government data which was presented in the state assembly in January this year, 149 guns and 102 tear gas shells and grenades were looted by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir in the past three years. Seventy-six weapons were recovered so far. This data is also an indication of an increase in the number of local terrorists in the valley, especially after the death of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 31, 2018 09:34 PM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).