Shootout in Pulwama: raw recruit 145;lost nerve, misfired146;

When villagers carried away the two bodies wrap- ped in white shrouds this morning, there was more confusion than anger.

When villagers carried away the two bodies wrap- ped in white shrouds this morning, there was more confusion than anger. Nobody knew what exactly led to the 8220;mysterious8221; killing of a young mason and a carpenter here. They had stepped out of the village mosque soon after offering prayers last evening, when they were killed by a barrage of gunfire.

There are different versions of the incident. The first to be blamed were the police because a private Santro car carrying two policemen had also been hit by bullets.

Farooq Ahmad 28 and Shakoor Ahmad 32 were close neighbours and had no links with militants or security forces. There was no reason, therefore, of them being targeted by either side.

Soon after the burial, the police claimed that their investigations had started bearing fruit and indicated an assassination plot by militants that had gone horribly wrong. They said a young man from a neighbouring village who had recently joined militants had come to target the owner of the Santro car8212;a contractor who was driving the two policemen to the village to investigate a feud between two families. And as the militant confronted the car, the police said, he panicked and missed his target and killed the two villagers instead.

The police believe that owner of the car Tariq Ahmad from Hitwara village was the target because he was known to be 8220;friendly8221; with the security forces.

The police said the two policemen who had taken a ride with Tariq from Kakpora police post last evening were not part of the J-K Police8217;s counter-insurgency wing Special Operations Group8212;a known militant target8212;and had been going to the village almost everyday for past one week in connection with the family feud.

The police also said their two men did not have guns with them. Sources revealed that Tariq has a brother who became a militant and went across for arms training. Even Tariq had links with militants initially but started silently helping security forces after he came under pressure from the latter. 8220;Recently, the militants came to know about his security force links especially after the surrender of a few local militants in Awantipora. And they possibly wanted retribution,8221; a police officer told The Indian Express.

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8220;The only difference is that they militants had asked a poorly-trained recruit to go for the target killing who failed to hold his nerve when he pulled the trigger8221;.

The villagers distrust the police8217;s version even as they agree that the only active militant in the area is a boy named Sajad Bhat from neighbouring Lelhar village. It is unlikely that the police probe will be taken as credible even though an eyewitness did suggest that he saw a panicked policeman seconds after the incident without a weapon.

Separatist leaders, who arrived in the village, blamed the government for the killing. In fact, Shabir Shah told villagers who had gathered for funeral prayers that militants could never commit such a crime.