Day ahead of Modi’s J&K visit, terrorists attack Army

Srinagar: Three Army jawans were injured in a sneak attack by militants in Srinagar’s Bemina on Saturday, triggering panic in the area.

The attack on an Army convoy moving along Parimpora-Panthachowk bypass road came a day before Prime Minister Narendra Modi is scheduled to visit restive Jammu and Kashmir. During the day-long visit, the Prime Minister will inaugurate India’s longest road tunnel at Chenani along the Jammu-Srinagar highway in Udhampur district, where he will also address a public rally.

Defence spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia confirmed three soldiers were injured and a vehicle in the convoy suffered minor damage in the militant firing. “There was firing on Army convoy in general area Bemina today. Three soldiers were injured who were evacuated to the Army’s 92-Base Hospital and are under treatment,” he said.

The police officials said that the attack took place around 1.15pm outside the Sher-i-Kashmir Institute of Medical Sciences Hospital at Bemina and three soldiers on board the last vehicle of the convoy sustained bullet wounds in the attack. The witnesses said that, at least, 10 bullets hit the windshield and other parts of the Army vehicle and, as the driver lost control over it, it hit the road divider. The convoy was on its way to Srinagar from north-western Baramulla district.

The troops who were in the convoy retaliated by opening fire forcing the militants to flee from the spot. Soon reinforcements from Army, the J&K police and the CRPF laid siege to the area and started an operation to capture the assailants dead or alive. But the sources said that no arrests were made as militants apparently escaped through a densely populated residential area.

Following the attack, a red alert was sounded across the Kashmir Valley and security forces’ reinforcements and special naka parties fanned out to ensure the militants do not strike again.

Already, a multi-tier security setup had been put in place ahead of the Prime Minister’s visit and an alert sounded along both the Line of Control and International Border with Pakistan in Jammu region and a high degree of vigilance at vital installations in the hinterland, the official sources said.

Soon after Saturday’s attack, a crowd assembled near the site of occurrence and started pelting stones at the police and the CRPF personnel, triggering clashes, the witnesses said.

Earlier a peculiar situation arose in Srinagar’s commercial hub Lal-Chowk-Budshah Chowk and adjoining areas when, according to police, a mentally deranged person entered a hotel and started hitting everything than came in his way. He also shouted that a fidayeen attack is going to take place in the area, triggering panic among the hotel staff. He, was, however, quickly overpowered by the police which also fired warning shots triggering panic in the busy area. While people started feeling towards safety, most of the business establishments downed their shutters. Soon the area witnessed clashed between irate crowds of youth and the security forces which fired teargas canisters to bring the situation under control.