Excelsior Correspondent
Srinagar, Nov 7: Militants this evening struck on Srinagar-Jammu National Highway in South Kashmir township of Awantipora, killing two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel.
Deputy Inspector General of Police, South Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar, told Excelsior that the two CRPF men were on Road Opening Party (ROP) duty near Pandav Park in Awantipora on the National Highway.
Kumar said that one militant used the boat to cross river Jhelum and struck on the highway. He said that after crossing the river, the militant travelled around 100 metres and fired indiscriminately upon the two CRPF men.
The DIG said that the militant was pheran clad and opened fire on the CRPF men when he was hardly few metres from them. The militant fled back using the boat across Jhelum leaving the two CRPF men dead.
Kumar said Police suspected hailed that the militant who carried out the attack was Irshad Gania of Lashkar-eToiba (LeT) who hailed from Padgampora in Pulwama. He said that security forces have cordoned off a village as they got information that he has fled to that village after carrying out the attack.
The two CRPF men have been identified as Sepoy Pradeep Gana of Orissa and Mahesh Kumar of Maharashtra. Both of the men belonged to 130 battalion of CRPF.
The attack created panic among the locals and the shopkeepers fled from the area leaving their shops open.
Police, Army and CRPF and their senior officers immediately rushed to the spot to assess the situation.
A person identifying himself as Sami-ul-Haq of Shuda-e-Brigade claimed responsibility for the attack. “Our cadres carried out the attack in Awantipora and killed the two CRPF personnel”, he told a local agency.
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