Srinagar: A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan was killed, two others and a civilian pedestrian were injured when militants ambushed the vehicle they were travelling in at Pantha Choak along he Srinagar-Jammu highway and about 6 kilometres from the city centre Lal Chowk.
The assailants have been trapped inside a nearby school which has been encircled by the security forces to start operation to flush them out, the officials said. Later a J&K policeman and a CRPF jawan were injured when the former accidentally fired his weapon in the area, reports said.
The police and witnesses said that the militants fired their AK-47 assault rifles to target the vehicle carrying men from the CRPF’s 29 Battalion. A CRPF spokesman said, “Three of our jawans were injured in the terrorist attack. One of them succumbed to his injuries soon after the incident.”
The militants after the attack ran into the nearby campus of Delhi Public School.
“Two gunmen are inside. An appeal has been made to them to surrender,” a police officer who spoke on condition of anonymity told this correspondent. Vijay Kumar Dhar, the Pro Vice Chairman of the school, confirmed it.
He, however, added all the school staff and students were safe as they have already left the campus. The DPS (Srinagar) campus is located at a stone’s throw from the place of occurrence and its management had earlier flashed messages to parents on their mobile phones saying “All students and staff are safe.”
However, on hearing about the incident many panicky parents had already headed for the school.
The traffic along the Srinagar-Pampore stretch of the highway has been suspended and the police, CRPF and Army reinforcements have laid siege to Pantha Choak and its neighbourhood to start searches.
Witnesses said that the shooting incident led to a chaotic situation at the busy intersection and nearby marketplaces with people running towards what they considered were safer locations. The shop owners brought their shutters down and the people on board vehicles abandoned them and took shelter in sidelanes.
Later a CRPF jawan and a J&K policeman were injured after the latter accidentally fired his weapon in the area. The incident happened when SSP Srinagar was talking to reporters on the spot.
