Srinagar: Five personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were killed and a police officer and a civilian injured in a militant attack on a busy road in south Kashmir’s Anantnag district on Wednesday afternoon.
Militants, believed to be two to three in number, fired upon a stationary party of the CRPF at KP Road at around 5:15 pm. They also hurled grenades at the patrol team. Five CRPF personnel received critical bullet wounds. They were rushed to the hospital where they succumbed to the injuries, a top police official told News18.
A joint team of the company of CRPF's 116th battalion and state police were deployed for a picket duty in the area when the attack took place.
After the attack, reinforcements were rushed to the spot. Station House Officer (SHO) Irshad Ahmad of Sadder police station, while trying to kill the militants, sustained a bullet injury. He has been shifted to Army base hospital in Srinagar for treatment.
“One militant was firing in the middle of the road, taking cover from a CRPF vehicle. He even tried to barge inside, but was eliminated by the forces,” the police official said.
Police said that the body of a foreign militant, with an AK-47 weapon, has been recovered from the spot.
Minutes after the attack, militant outfit Al-Umar Mujahideen claimed responsibility. The Pakistan-based militant group is led by Mushtaq Ahmad Zargar, who was one of the terrorists freed by India along with Masood Azhar in return for the passengers of Indian Airlines flight IC 814 hijacked in 1999.
In a statement to a local news agency, the militant outfit said its cadres carried out the attack on the security forces party, leading to the killing of five personnel.
The KP Road, where the attack took place, leads to the Amarnath cave. With the Amarnath yatra scheduled to start on July 1, the attack in the town at this time raises question about the security scenario.
(With inputs from PTI)
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