Srinagar, Jun 24: A CRPF officer was killed and two others, including a civilian, were injured in an attack by militants on a vehicle of the paramilitary force in close vicinity of Army’s 15-Corps headquarters in Srinagar on Saturday.
A senior Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), officer said, “Firing was on our vehicle. Sub Inspector Sahab Shukla lost his life and one of our personnel and a civilian were injured. We have cordoned the area.”
Sources said two to three ultras carrying AK rifles, might have escaped towards nearby Delhi Public School (DPS) complex which has four huge buildings in the compound. The deadly attack happened at around 5.50pm near Pantha Chowk on Srinagar-Jammu national highway.
Reinforcements of army and police were rushed to the spot to nab the attackers. "Two to three militants are on the run and a search operation is underway to nab them," sources said.
The area is barely one km away from the strategic 15-Corps headquarters. No militant outfit claimed responsibility for the attack till filing of this report (7:30 pm). The national highway was closed after the attack, reports said.
The attack was not an isolated incident on the national highway, but only a reminder of deadly attacks of past inflicting many casualties on security forces. In the past year, militants have targeted forces on more than nine occasions on the highway, resulting in nearly 21 casualties to security forces.
In the wake of rising militants attacks on security forces' convoys on the highway, the security agencies had last year decided to install CCTV cameras and deploy additional forces on the highway to prevent the attacks.
However, a senior police officer told DH that despite rising attacks since December 2015, there has been little increase in deployment of forces on the highway that connects Valley with rest of the country and is used to carry supplies to the Srinagar-based 15 Corps.
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