Terror returns to Kashmir, fidayeens kill five jawans
14 March 2013 7:16 AM IST
Five jawans were killed on Wednesday when two militants stormed a CRPF camp near a school in Bemina area in the heart of the city in the first suicide attack in Kashmir in three years in which the terrorists were suspected to be from Pakistan. However, a pro-Pakistan militant group Hizbul Mujahideen claimed responsibility and threatened to repeat the attacks in future.
The two ‘fidayeens’ (suicide militants), who entered the Police Public School ground in the guise of playing cricket, were eliminated during a 30-minute gunbattle following the terror attack in which 18 people, 15 jawans and three civilians, were also injured. Five jawans and the three civilians were out of danger, officials said.
‘Prima facie the terrorists don’t appear to be local but from across the border and first impressions are that they are possibly from Pakistan,’ Union home secretary R K Singh said in New Delhi.
Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the suicide attack is an indicator that the government has to remain ‘very alert’ in Kashmir Valley.
‘We are analysing how the attack took place,’ he said, adding, it is difficult to predict when terror will strike. ‘But it (the attack) has given an indication that we have to remain very alert in Kashmir,’ Shinde said.
In Srinagar, a spokesman from the Hizbul Mujahideen group called a local news agency to claim responsibility for the attack that began at 10:45 am and threatened more such attacks in the future. ‘It was a guerrilla attack carried out by a special squad formed for the purpose,’ Hizb spokesman Baleeguddin said in a telephonic call to the news agency.
Looking like other boys playing cricket at the school ground, the militants removed their jackets after they entered the field, lobbed several grenades and fired indiscriminately from their AK-47s concealed in their kits to inflict the causalities before they were killed in the gunbattle.
The school was luckily closed due to strike called by separatists in support of their demand for return of mortal remains of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
The CRPF camp at Bemina is surrounded by the Police Public School and many government buildings. ‘There is a ground for Police Public School in Pirampura police station. The CRPF jawans deployed in the adjacent area were in the standby,’ Singh said.
The two ‘fidayeens’ (suicide militants), who entered the Police Public School ground in the guise of playing cricket, were eliminated during a 30-minute gunbattle following the terror attack in which 18 people, 15 jawans and three civilians, were also injured. Five jawans and the three civilians were out of danger, officials said.
‘Prima facie the terrorists don’t appear to be local but from across the border and first impressions are that they are possibly from Pakistan,’ Union home secretary R K Singh said in New Delhi.
Union home minister Sushilkumar Shinde said the suicide attack is an indicator that the government has to remain ‘very alert’ in Kashmir Valley.
‘We are analysing how the attack took place,’ he said, adding, it is difficult to predict when terror will strike. ‘But it (the attack) has given an indication that we have to remain very alert in Kashmir,’ Shinde said.
In Srinagar, a spokesman from the Hizbul Mujahideen group called a local news agency to claim responsibility for the attack that began at 10:45 am and threatened more such attacks in the future. ‘It was a guerrilla attack carried out by a special squad formed for the purpose,’ Hizb spokesman Baleeguddin said in a telephonic call to the news agency.
Looking like other boys playing cricket at the school ground, the militants removed their jackets after they entered the field, lobbed several grenades and fired indiscriminately from their AK-47s concealed in their kits to inflict the causalities before they were killed in the gunbattle.
The school was luckily closed due to strike called by separatists in support of their demand for return of mortal remains of Parliament attack convict Afzal Guru.
The CRPF camp at Bemina is surrounded by the Police Public School and many government buildings. ‘There is a ground for Police Public School in Pirampura police station. The CRPF jawans deployed in the adjacent area were in the standby,’ Singh said.
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