A Sub-Inspector of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) was martyred and two other jawans received critical injuries in a daring strike by a group of 2-3 heavily armed terrorists on the mobile patrol party near Pantha Chowk on the Jammu-Srinagar National Highway on Saturday.
After targeting the CRPF personnel, the terrorists reportedly ran towards the Delhi Public School in the vicinity.
The entire area was cordoned off by the joint team of security forces to track them down.
According to Inspector General of CRPF, Srinagar Ravideep Singh Sahi, “the CRPF mobile patrol party was targeted around 5.45 pm near Pantha Chowk”.
He said one Sub-Inspector and two other jawans including driver of the vehicle received injuries.
The Sub-Inspector later succumbed to fatal injuries while two others were undergoing treatment at 92 Base Hospital of the Indian Army in Srinagar.
The martyred CRPF personnel was identified as Sub Inspector Sahib Shukla of 29 Battalion. He hailed from Gorakhpur district of Uttar Pradesh.
Till the time of filing the report, search and cordon operations were on in the sprawling school campus consisting of more than 400 rooms spread across 7 different buildings.
Meanwhile, over three dozen staffers of the school were safely evacuated before launching the search and cordon operations.
In the absence of natural light, the security forces were facing a challenging task of lighting up the campus to carry out the operations.
A lashkar-e-Tayyebba spokesperson claimed responsibility of the attack.
According to reports, the CRPF personnel came under attack when the driver was negotiating a U-turn on the busy road connecting Srinagar with South Kashmir districts. Srinagar based 15 corps headquarters in Badami Bagh is also located close to the site where terrorists targeted CRPF patrol party.
According to CRPF officials, “CRPF Sub-Inspector sitting on the front seat and the driver were hit by bullets as terrorists opened fire from the front, shattering the front glass of the vehicle”.
This is the second major strike by the terrorists in the same Pantha Chowk area connecting South Kashmir districts with Srinagar city.
One CRPF jawan was killed and six others were injured in a similar strike near Sempora on April 3.
DGP State police SP Vaid claimed, “The security forces would take adequate measures to prevent any collateral damage inside the school premises. He also confirmed all the members of the school staff were safely evacuated by the forces”.