Militants strike on Srinagar outskirts, SSB jawan killed

Majid Jahangir

Tribune News Service

Srinagar, October 14

Two days after two fidayeen were killed at Pampore, militants struck on Friday evening, killing a Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawan and injuring nine others on Srinagar’s outskirts.

Police sources said a convoy of six SSB vehicles was attacked by the militants at Zakoora, 15 km from the city centre at around 7 pm, when three companies were returning from the area to the base camp after performing law and order duties.

“Ten SSB jawans were injured in the attack and one of them later succumbed. The SSB jawans retaliated and the exchange of fire between two sides continued for some time,” a police officer said. It is suspected that two militants were involved in the attack. The condition of three SSB jawans is stated to be critical.

Soon after the shootout, the police and the CRPF cordoned off the area to carry out a search operation to trace the militants. The area where the shootout took place is a populated area.

It could not be established whether the militants were planning to sneak into a nearby CRPF camp in the area or the attack was aimed at the patrol party. The forces have been on a high alert as there are inputs about militant attacks after the surgical strikes at terror launch pads in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir on September 29.

Two days ago, the 56-hour-long encounter had ended inside a multi-storey building of Jammu and Kashmir Entrepreneurship Institute located on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway on the city outskirts at Pampore, with the killing of two fidayeen militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba.

In October two fidayeen attacks have been foiled by forces on Army bases in north Kashmir. While militants were able to flee after trying to sneak into an Army base in Baramulla, on October 2, three militants were killed in a gunfight in Langate Kupwara when they attempted to sneak into the base on October 6.