CRPF trooper killed in Kashmir attack, seven others injured

Srinagar, April 3 (IANS): A CRPF head constable was killed and five other troopers and two civilians, including a girl,injured when militants attacked a CRPF convoy on the Jammu-Srinagar highway in the state’s Pulwama district on Monday, police said. Two of the troopers were in critical condition. The injured were brought to the army’s base hospital in Badami Bagh area here, where one of the injured, Head Constable G.D. Basappa succumbed to his injuries.

Cordon and search operations in the area, barely five km away from Srinagar district, were called off Monday evening as militants reportedly managed to escape after carrying out the attack. The Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) outfit has owned responsibility for this attack. The other injured, including both the civilians, are out of danger, police said. The girl, identified as Zainab, daughter of Ashiq Hussain Wani of Drangbal area of Pampore town, was admitted to Srinagar’s Bone and Joint Hospital. Doctors at the hospital have described her condition as out of danger, saying she had been injured in the leg by a bullet.

The incident came less then a day after a police constable was killed and 11 other security personnel including eight policemen and three CRPF troopers were injured on Sunday evening in Srinagar’s Nowhatta area when militants hurled a grenade when security personnel were being withdrawn from the area. Militant outfit Tehreek-ul-Mujahideen had claimed responsibility for this attack.