Excelsior Correspondent
SRINAGAR, Apr 1: Three Army personnel were injured as militants attacked an Army convoy on Srinagar-Bemina Bypass this afternoon but the militants managed to escape.
Sources said that two militants appeared in front of an Army vehicle at the tail end of an Army convoy that was on way from Baramulla to Srinagar and fired at it indiscriminately from the front side. Three Army personnel were injured in the attack.
Army retaliated and militants managed to escape. However, security forces immediately cordoned off the area and conducted searches but no one was arrested.
Sources said that the militants had come on a motor cycle and parked it in Bemina Colony and fled after carrying out the attack. They suspect Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) hand behind it. However, Hizbul Mujahideen has claimed responsibility for the attack.
The attack created panic in the area and traffic on the highway came to halt and was restored after over an hour. Scores of employees were trapped in the Srinagar Development Authority (SDA) office and they were evacuated by security forces.
Srinagar based Defence spokesman, Rajesh Kalia said here that three soldiers were injured in the attack. “The injured troopers were evacuated to the base hospital and are under treatment,” he added.
In the meantime, stone-throwing clashes erupted in busy commercial hub Lal Chowk area as police arrested a “mentally unsound” person who created panic by calling himself a Fidayeen attacker near Budshah Chowk this afternoon.
A police official told Excelsior that a person identified as Abrar Mushtaq Shah, son of Mushtaq Ahmad Shah, resident of Syed Hamid Pora locality of Nawab Bazar in downtown appeared near Taj Hotel at Budshah Chowk and created panic after calling himself Fidayeen attacker.
“He began shouting that he is a Fidayeen attacker and within no time shopkeepers ran towards safer places and he himself entered Hotej Taj,” the official said, adding that the police and paramilitary personnel who remain deployed at Budshah Chowk took position and nabbed him. The panic escalated after some shots were heard in the area.
Amid the panic, rumors started making rounds that Fidayeen attack took place near Taj Hotel. Some people were running towards safer places, others assembled at Budshah Chowk and cornered police who had nabbed the “mentally unsound” person.
People took the person nabbed by police as militant and sought his release amid sloganeering. Scores of people from several sides pelted stones on police and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel. The security forces retaliated by firing teargas and pepper grenades.
Shopkeepers closed their shops while transport disappeared from the roads in city centre. Initially, the clashes occurred at Maisuma, Red Cross Road, Budshah Chowk, Koker Bazar and later spread to Clock Tower, Court Road, Amira Kadal, Abi Guzar, Residency Road, MA Road, Regal Chowk and MA Road. The entire Lal Chowk was rattled with teargas explosions while additional contingents of police and CRPF were rushed to restore order.
Superintendent of Police (SP) Sheikh Faisal Qayoom told reporters that the man had entered the Taj Hotel and was then taken into custody by police. “He is a local and we are ascertaining who he is”, he said.
The situation in Lal Chowk returned to normal nearly after two hours and some shopkeepers opened their shops while traffic also started to ply normally. A police official said there was no report of injury to anyone during the clashes. However, a photojournalist was hit by a stone while covering the stone-pelting.
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