In the first major terror attack in Srinagar in the last three years, militants on Wednesday (March 13) stormed a CRPF camp neighboring a school in Bemina area of Summer Capital Srinagar killing five CRPF men and injuring at least seven others. Two fidayeen (suicide militants), who carried out the attack lobbing several grenades and resorting to heavy firing, were also killed.
A senior police officer, speaking on the situation of ambiguity, said the extremists pretended to be joining children for a game of cricket before taking out automatic weapons from a bag and throwing a grenade.
Four civilians were also injured, said a police statement.
The Kashmir News Service (KNS), a Srinagar-based news agency, reported receiving a call from a Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman who claimed the “guerilla attack” and said others would follow.
Jammu and Kashmir Chief Minister Omar Abdullah in a brief statement told the State Assembly that two gunmen were killed and five CRPF personnel were killed in the militant attack.
Three civilians were injured in the attack and have been taken to a nearby hospital for treatment and are out of danger, he said.
The CRPF camp at Bemina is surrounded by the Police, the Public School and many government buildings. However, the school was closed due to strike called by separatists.
Kashmir has been tense since the execution in February of a local separatist over a deadly 2001 attack on the Parliament in Delhi. Mohammed Afzal Guru was convicted over the attack.
Much of Kashmir has since been put under curfew repeatedly while protests and strikes have disrupted daily life.
Home secretary RK Singh told reporters that up to four men might have been involved and the dead gunmen appeared “not local but from across the border” in Pakistan.
