Terrorist kills police officer guarding Amarnath Yatra in Kashmir’s Anantnag; TRF claims attack
ANANTNAG, India (Diya TV) — A Jammu and Kashmir Police officer deployed to protect the Amarnath Yatra was killed Wednesday after a terrorist opened fire in Anantnag town, triggering a major security operation across the area.
Head Constable Ashiq Hussain Qureshi of the 3rd Battalion of the India Reserve Police was on Amarnath Yatra security duty when he was shot at approximately 12:30 p.m. in the Lal Chowk area of Anantnag. He suffered critical injuries and was taken to Government Medical College Hospital in Anantnag, where he died from his injuries.
Security forces cordoned off the area following the shooting and launched a search operation to track down the attacker or attackers. The assault struck a police deployment in one of south Kashmir’s main towns while security remained heightened around the annual Hindu pilgrimage to the Amarnath cave shrine.
The Resistance Front, or TRF, claimed responsibility for the attack. TRF is an affiliate of the Pakistan-based terrorist organization Lashkar-e-Taiba, according to Indian authorities. The United States designated TRF as a Foreign Terrorist Organization and Specially Designated Global Terrorist in July 2025.
The attack comes more than a year after terrorists massacred 26 civilians near Pahalgam in Anantnag district on April 22, 2025, one of the deadliest attacks on civilians in Kashmir in years. The National Investigation Agency has identified Lashkar-e-Taiba and its affiliate TRF as being behind the Pahalgam attack and earlier this month named Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba founder Hafiz Saeed in a supplementary charge sheet in the case.
Wednesday’s killing is being reported as the first terrorist attack in the Kashmir Valley since the Pahalgam massacre, breaking a period without a comparable terrorist strike even as security forces continued counterterrorism operations across the region.
The attack also occurred during the Amarnath Yatra security period. Qureshi had been specifically assigned to security duties connected to the pilgrimage, which draws Hindu devotees to the sacred Amarnath cave shrine in the Kashmir Himalayas. The pilgrimage had been temporarily suspended in recent days amid severe weather and flooding in parts of Jammu and Kashmir.
Jammu and Kashmir Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha said he spoke with Director General of Police Nalin Prabhat following the attack to review the security situation.
“My heartfelt condolences to the family of Head Constable Ashiq Hussain Qureshi, who sacrificed his life in the line of duty,” Sinha said, adding that those responsible for the attack would be brought to justice.
Chief Minister Omar Abdullah also condemned the attack and paid tribute to Qureshi, describing his death as the “ultimate sacrifice” in the line of duty.
Senior police officials were monitoring the security response as forces continued efforts to identify and locate those responsible. No arrest in connection with the attack had been publicly announced at the time of publication.
The investigation remains ongoing.
