8 killed in terror attack ahead of PM’s J&K visit

Reports said armed militants targeted an army convoy on Srinagar-Uri highway at Hyderpora bypass on Monday afternoon. The militants, however, managed to escape from the scene and attacked Central Reserve Police Force personnel at Barzulla on Srinagar-Airport road.

 ‘Two motorcycle borne militants attacked a sub-inspector at Brazulla. A bullet hit his neck. Our men retaliated, but the militants managed to flee from the place after firing at us,’ Kishor Prasad, PRO, CRPF told Millennium Post.

 ‘Eight jawan were killed and six got injured. Surgeries have been performed on them at Base hospital Badami Bagh cantonment,’ said Army spokesman Lt Col Ankur Vashist. A local news agency said that Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman claimed responsibility for the audacious attack. On both ends of the road at Hyderpora, which houses residential colonies, inhabitants said they panicked upon hearing gunshots but were not sure that the attack took place nearby.

‘It started around 4 pm and I thought it is cracker burst. But there was indiscriminate firing soon,’ said an inhabitant who lives in a nearby colony. The entire area was sealed to track the attackers and the traffic on the highway came to standstill.

This is the second attack since last Saturday, when two cops were shot dead from point black range in the nerve centre of the Srinagar city. The Hizbul Mujahideen cadres have launched a set of major attacks seeking high-profile targets in and around Srinagar.

Both the DGP and IGP were seen monitoring the situation. However, they refused to talk to media. Army spokesman in Srinagar’s 15 corps also declined to share any details.

J&K chief minister Omar Abdullah said: ‘I just spoke to the commander of the 15th corps to express my condolences for the loss of army men. Such high-profile attacks are aimed at restoring the shattered morale of the militants while trying to demoralise the security forces.’