The Pampore attack in Jammu & Kashmir "appears to be" the handiwork of lashker-e-Taiyyaba (leT) terror outfit, CRPF DG Prakash Mishra said on Monday.
The DG said initial inputs of the encounter, in which five security personnel and a civilian have been killed till now, suggest that the modus operandi adopted by the terrorists bore similarity to attacks that had occurred in Udhampur in J-K and Gurdaspur in Punjab recently where security personnel were targeted. "lashkar appears to be behind this...The operation is still on. It is suspected that there could be 3-5 terrorists who are involved in the attack. The assault by security forces is in its final stages," Mishra told journalists here.
Hours later, the encounter ended with the security forces eliminating all the three terrorists holed up inside a building there. The terrorists are heavily armed with weapons like AK-47 assault rifles and grenades and "certainly" came prepared for a long operation given the huge cache of arms and ammunition they hold, he said.
Mishra, who had recently toured the Kashmir valley, said the area where the attack took place is a "volatile" zone as the terrorists had attacked a Central Reserve Police Force squad in the area some time back. He said security forces are "always" on alert while making their movement in these areas.
An Assistant Commandant-rank officer of CRPF Rakesh Raman was critically injured and admitted in ICU, area commander of the force and Inspector General (Kashmir zone) Atul Karwal and an another trooper have received minor injuries while undertaking operation against the terrorists holed up in the EDI building.
The assault inside the building was later taken over by the Army which has lost two Captain-rank officers and a lance Naik from the elite PARA (Special Forces) unit. Two CRPF men were killed on Saturday when terrorists attacked a 300-personnel strong bus convoy of the CRPF while they were traveling from Jammu to Srinagar.
Nine CRPF personnel on the bus were injured during the attack on the paramilitary convoy. Mishra said it is suspected that the terrorists came to attack the convoy of the force and may not have a plan to take hostages in the EDI building.
The DG said the escort party of the convoy mounted an effective retaliation and hence the terrorists fled and hid in the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) building.