The Eid festivities in militancy-hit Kashmir were marred as terrorists shot dead three policemen, including an inspector, and a BJP worker in two districts of the state today, police said. Militants killed Police Inspector Mohd Asharf Dar inside his residence at Larve in South Kashmir's Pulwama this evening when he had gone home to celebrate Eid, they said. Dar was working in a special branch of the state police and was posted in Budgam in central Kashmir. Earlier in the day, Fayaz Ahmad Shah, a trainee police constable, was shot when he was returning home after offering Eid prayers in Kulgam, one of the worst militancy-hit districts of South Kashmir.

The 34-year-old was working with the Jammu and Kashmir Police as a Special Police Officer and had been given an out-of-turn promotion and selected as a constable. He was undergoing training at Talwara in Jammu region and had gone home. Terrorists fired at Shah from a close range near his house and he died on the spot. A pall of gloom descended on the policeman's native Zazripora village when the news of his death broke out.