A police officer was shot dead from close range by a suspected militant in Khanyar locality of Srinagar on Sunday. The deceased officer has been identified as Probationary Sub-Inspector Arshid Ahmad, PTI reported, citing the Jammu and Kashmir Police.

Ahmad was shot at by the militant around 1.35 pm, officials told PTI. He succumbed to his injuries at the Sheri Kashmir Institute of Medical Science in Soura.

CCTV footage showed that the assailant fired at the officer at least twice from a close range from behind him at a market in Khanyar, the police said. Several local media organisations shared the visuals of the attack on social media.

Officials said that the area where the attack took place has been cordoned off and the police was conducting a search to find the assailant, PTI reported.

The National Conference condemned the killing of the police officer. “We express our sincere condolences to the family members of the fearless policeman killed in the line of duty,” the party said in a tweet.

The Bharatiya Janata Party’s Jammu and Kashmir spokesperson Altaf Thakur also condemned the killing, describing the attack as a cowardly act, PTI reported. In a statement, Thakur said that the militants were targeting unarmed policemen as they were feeling frustrated.