A 55-year-old assistant sub-inspector (ASI) posted with the counter intelligence wing of Punjab Police was allegedly shot dead by unidentified assailants while returning home on his motorcycle after duty in Tarn Taran district on Sunday evening, police said.

According to police, the deceased, identified as Iqbal Singh, was a resident of Tarn Taran and posted in Mallan police station in Ferozepur. The incident took place around 7.30 pm on the Naushera-Lohka road when the cop was returning home after paying obeisance at a gurdwara. The assailants fired multiple shots from point blank range, with two bullets hitting the victim, said assistant inspector general, counter intelligence, Ferozepur, Avneet Kaur. Singh was rushed to a hospital where he was declared brought dead, she added.

The brazen killing marks the fifth targeted attack on Punjab Police personnel this year. The incident follows the September murder of ASI Harjit Singh in Amritsar, and killing of ASI Joga Singh near Majitha in May and the February attack on border checkpost at Adhian village in Gurdaspur district in which ASI Gurnam Singh and Home Guard constable Ashok Kumar were shot dead. On October 4, ASI Sukhchain Singh, posted in Government Railway Police (GRP) in Amritsar, survived an ambush by two motorcycle-borne assailants who opened fire at him while he was on his way back home after duty. The ASI suffered bullet injury to his left arm.

After Sunday’s attack, senior police officers and personnel rushed to the spot soon after the shooting and initiated an investigation. The area has been cordoned off and police were collecting evidence to establish the sequence of events.

The motive behind the murder and the identity of the assailants were yet to be established. deputy inspector general of police (Ferozepur Range) Snehdeep Sharma said: “We have leads and we are working on them. We will soon nab the assailants”.

Opposition parties criticised the AAP government over the law and order situation. “If policemen are not safe, then who will guarantee the safety of common citizens of border villages,” said former Union minister and BJP leader Ravneet Singh.

Targeting the AAP government, Shiromani Akali Dal leader Bikram Singh Majithia said: “The gruesome killing of another cop in the state today proves that the chief minister has badly failed to maintain law and order in Punjab.”