Jammu, May 25 (IANS) An Assistant Sub-inspector (ASI) of police was killed and another policeman was injured on Sunday when a speeding vehicle hit them in J&K’s Samba district.

Officials said that ASI Yog Raj Singh, along with his team, had set up a checking point on the border road at Pulpur in the Supwal area of Samba district following information about possible attempts by smugglers to transport bovine animals.

“The police party tried to stop a speeding load carrier at around 4.15 am, but its driver jumped the barricade and hit them, resulting in injuries to the ASI and another policeman. The injured were rushed to a nearby hospital, where the ASI succumbed to his injuries,” an official said.

He further added that police have registered a case and recovered the vehicle, which was found abandoned in a nearby area, while a hunt is on to identify and arrest the culprit driver.

Bovine smuggling is a cause of concern for the local police as these animals are smuggled into J&K or from one district to the other in violation of government directives that make permission for such transport by the concerned district magistrate obligatory.

After the recent hostilities between India and Pakistan on the International Border (IB) that falls in Kathua, Samba and partly in Jammu districts, security forces are maintaining high vigil to ensure that no infiltration occurs during heavy mortar shelling by Pakistan Rangers in these districts.

Although the IB in J&K is completely fenced with a multi-layered high fence, there have been incidents of terrorists breaking through the fortified fencing under the cover of Pakistani fire.

Security Forces have also discovered a tunnel along the IB being used by the terrorists to sneak into the Indian side.

–IANS

sq/dan