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| 2 CRPF cops killed, 25 injured as militants strike in Srinagar | | |
Ahmed Ali Fayyaz
SRINAGAR, Aug 31: Taking advantage of the falling morale of Jammu & Kashmir Police and security forces, militants today virtually knocked at the doors of the corridors of power in Civil Lines with a broad daylight shoot-out followed by a grenade attack. While as two constables of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) were gunned down in the crowded business hub of Lalchowk, 25 others---including 3 CRPF and 2 J&K Police personnel---were left wounded in the grenade attack, yards away from the offices of IGP Kashmir and other senior Police officials. Police have, meanwhile, claimed to have arrested a top ranking commander of Al-Badar outfit who was allegedly involved in dozens of killings and attacks on Police and armed forces.
SSP Srinagar, Javed Riyaz Bedar, told Early Times that two militants targeted equal number of CRPF men while on duty near UCO Bank and Central Telegraph Office with silencer-fitted pistols at 1230 hours today. Both, he said, were shot in the skull from behind. As the assailants managed to escape, both the CRPF men were evacuated and rushed to hospital but they breathed their last in minutes. CRPF spokesman, Prabhakar Tripathi, identified the slain constables of ‘G’ company of CRPF 28 Bn as Raj Shekhar and Malikarjun. He said that the dead bodies of the soldiers would be dispatched for their South India residences after a wreath-laying ceremony here on Tuesday.
SSP Srinagar said that in an hour of the CTO shootout, militants lobbed a hand grenade towards men of CRPF 157 Bn, close to Zonal Police headquarters and SSP’s own office, in Batmaloo locality. Even as there was no fatal casualty in the explosion, as many as 25 persons, including three of CRPF and two of J&K Police, sustained splinter injuries. Almost all of them were quickly evacuated and rushed to different hospitals. While over a dozen of the injured were discharged after getting medical treatment at hospital, all others still under treatment, excluding a critically wounded civilian, were reportedly out of danger.
Constable Shabir Ahmed of Kulgam, who was posted as Personal Security Officer of former Minister and PDP’s sitting MLA from Homeshalibugh, Abdul Gaffar Sofi, was among those who sustained injuries in the grenade blast at Batmaloo. Offices of IGP Kashmir, DIG Central Kashmir and SSP Srinagar, as also those of numerous senior Police officers, District Police Lines Srinagar and J&K Fire Service Headquarters are yards away from the spot chosen by the militants.
SSP Bedar said that a module of eight or nine active militants was believed to be behind today’s terrorist strikes in the capital city. He said that Police were using all possible resources to identify the assailants and bring them to justice. He said that CCTV cameras installed in Civil Lines had captured the movement of both the assailants and efforts were underway to get them identified and subsequently arrested. According to him, the composite module of the militants responsible for today’s attacks had, of late, established operational bases in Sopore and Bandipore areas in North Kashmir.
In an identical fashion, suspected militants had earlier fired gunshots from their silence-fitted pistols on two CRPF men in front of Shakti Sweets on Residency Road on August 1st. Botyh the targeted personnel had sustained critical injuries. Over a week later, Constable B D Ghosh of CRPF 132 Bn succumbed to injuries even as Constable Firdaus Ahmed Bhat of Noorpora, Tral, is still under treatment at All India Institute of Medical Sciences (AIIMS) New Delhi. After an attack on the CRPF men, militants had, much like today, fired upon Constable Mohammad Shafi Bhat of J&K Police near today’s spot of terror in Batmaloo and left him dead. Militants had last week lobbed a grenade on a CRPF camp at Kahkashan Hotel at Khanyar and left six personnel injured.
Striking of the militants on Police and CRPF in broad daylight in close vicinity of Civil Secretariat, Legislature Complex and top officials of J&K Police has, to an extent, deflated the balloon of normalcy, much trumpeted by politicians, including Chief Minister Omar Abdullah, and PDP President Mehbooba Mufti in Legislative Assembly in the last four weeks. Police and security forces have, consequently, stepped up vigil on vehicular and civilian movement in the capital city and some other major towns in the Valley.
DIG Central Kashmir, Hemant Kumar Lohia, claimed at a news conference in the afternoon that Police had achieved a remarkable success by arresting one Zeenat-ul-Islam Shah alias Zahid alias Nasir alias Janbaz, son of Ghulam Hassan Shah, resident of Malnaar Sugan Shopian from one of his hideouts in Sopore. He was arrested during a raid on his hideout in Sopore, DIG said.
Mr Lohia said that the detained militant commander was also responsible for killing of two policemen at Surigam Kupwara on 4th April 2008. The ruthlessness of the said militant is gauged from the fact that he killed one Ghulam Mohiuddin, forest guard, of Hanga Handwara in Rajwar forests on May 14th this year by beheading him. He was also responsible for several attacks on Army and Security forces convoys, Mr Lohia said. He said that earlier this month that Police had also succeeded in arresting one of the militants who had lobbed a hand grenade on a CRPF vehicle near Rambagh.
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