Anantnag Terror Attack: 5 CRPF men martyr in terror strike; one terrorist eliminated

Anantnag Terror Attack: In a broad daylight strike, five Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) troopers and one militant were killed in a gunfight in Jammu and Kashmir's Anantnag district on Wednesday. While four others, including one civilian and three security men, were also injured following the attack. Among the slain CRPF troopers, two were of Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) rank. The incident took place in the afternoon when motorcycle-borne terrorists fired at a CRPF patrol party at Khanabal-Pahalgham stretch, famously known as KP Road, killing one personnel on the spot and wounding few others. A joint team of the bravo company of CRPF's 116th battalion and state police were deployed for a picket duty in the area when the attack took place. Police sources said that two masked militants came out of a car in KP Road in Anantnag town and opened fire on a security party. One terrorist and an unidentified person were also killed in the gunfight. Station House Officer of Anantnag Police Station, Arshad Ahmed, was injured in the attack and has been shifted to Srinagar for treatment, they said. "The militants have been engaged in a sustained encounter at the site of the attack. Firing exchanges are on. Reinforcements have been rushed to the spot," police sources said. The injured CRPF personnel are receiving medical treatment at the government hospital in Anantnag. As per reports, the other militant appeared to have escaped the spot. A footage of the attack site was shared by news agency ANI, in which gunshots can be heard.

#WATCH Jammu & Kashmir: Gunshots heard at the site of Anantnag terrorist attack in which 3 CRPF personnel have lost their lives & 2 have been injured, SHO Anantnag also critically injured. 1 terrorist has been neutralized in the operation. (Visuals deferred by unspecified time) pic.twitter.com/Uspen8iC4p

— ANI (@ANI) June 12, 2019

Jammu and Kashmir Police had shared an intelligence input about a possible terror strike on security forces around the general bus stand which is located on KP road. Though Al-Umar Mujahideen, a defunct terror group, has claimed responsibility for the strike, officials, however, said that it was a handiwork of Jaish-e-Mohammed. Pilgrims travelling to the cave shrine have to pass through the stretch of the road where Wednesday's attack took place. The yatra is scheduled to begin on July 1 and culminate on August 15. A major terror attack took place on Amarnath pilgrims in July 2017 when eight of them were killed by Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) terrorists who opened indiscriminate firing on their bus at Khanabal. (With inputs from PTI)