Suicide attack on CRPF Camp

SRINAGAR, Dec 4 — SRINAGAR, Dec 4 (PTI) — In the first suicide attack after ceasefire, militants today stormed a CRPF camp in Anantnag district killing a jawan and injuring three other personnel even as an Army jawan and a civilian were killed in an IED blast in Baramula district.

A militant was also killed in the exchange of fire that followed the storming by three militants of the 61 battalion CRPF camp located in a defunct cinema hall at Ashajipora, about 60 km from here, official sources said.

The militants, who came in a vehicle, lobbed several grenades and fired indiscriminately on the camp guards at around 5 p.m. they said.

A fierce face-to-face encounter was triggered which left a militant and a CRPF jawan dead, they said, adding that three CRPF personnel, including two officers, were injured in the shootout which lasted for more than an hour.

Reinforcements were summoned immediately after the attack and a search launched to track down two other militants.

No militant outfit has claimed responsibility for the attack, but the police suspect Pakistan-based Lashker-e-Toiba outfit to be behind the incident.

An Army jawan, Lance Naik Jai Chandran of 161 field regiment, was killed and 20 others were injured when an Army convoy on its way to Uri from Baramula ran over an improvised explosive device (IED) planted by militants at Khanpora near the Uri bus stand in Baramula district this afternoon, an official spokesman said.

An Army Gypsy was blown up while two other vehicles escorting it were slightly damaged in the blast, he said.

He said four civilians were also injured in the blast which damaged five private passenger buses and a scooter parked nearby. One of the injured civilians, junior engineer Akeel Ahmad Sheikh succumbed to his wounds.

The blast was followed by firing by the security forces in self-defence, official sources said.

Pro-Pakistan Hizbul Mujahideen outfit claimed responsibility for the attack.

Today’s explosion was the second major attack carried out by Hizbul Mujahideen on the Army since the Ramzan ceasefire came into effect in Jammu and Kashmir on Tuesday last.