A special police officer from Pulwama district of Jammu and Kashmir has gone missing and is suspected to have joined the militant ranks.
Irfan Ahmad Dar, a resident of Nehama in Kakapora area of Pulwama, has been reported missing since yesterday, a police official said.
Police are making efforts to trace the missing SPO, the official said.
However, a Hibzul Mujahideen spokesman told a local news agency that Dar had joined its ranks after decamping with his service rifle from his place of posting.
The police official said the claim of the militant group was also being investigated.