Five jawans were killed today, when two militants stormed into a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp near a school in Bemina area in the heart of the city. This was the first suicide attack in Kashmir in three years in which the terrorists were suspected to be from Pakistan.
The two “fidayeens”(suicide militants), who entered the Police Public School ground in the guise, 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.
A pro-Pakistan militant group, Hizbul Mujahideen, claimed the responsibility and threatened to repeat the attacks in future. “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.
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. “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 casualities before they were killed in the gunbattle.
