Srinagar: Four policemen were killed when militants detonated a remote-controlled improvised explosive device (IED) planted in the ground outside a closed shop in Sopore, a town 48 km north-west of Srinagar, on Saturday.
The deadly blast took place on a day when Sopore, which has Asia’s second-largest fruit mandi and is known as the “Apple Town”, was shut to commemorate the massacre of 57 residents allegedly by the Border Security Force (BSF).
In January 1993, BSF troops had, in reprisal to a sneak attack by militants, raided the centre of the town and allegedly shot civilians and torched properties. Sopore has been a hotbed of militancy and all along a stronghold of pro-Pakistani political parties and groups like Jamaat-e-Islami.
Police said that security across the town and its neighbourhood had been beefed up ahead of one-day strike called by local traders and endorsed by an alliance of key separatist leaders called “Joint Resistance Leadership”.
The militants detonated the remote-controlled IED when the policemen reached the scene while doing their rounds, the police officials said.
The IED, which went off near a lane between Chotta Bazaar and Bada Bazaar of the town, was so powerful that it completely destroyed three shops, damaged three more and some other structures nearby.
