Abid Bashir
Srinagar (NVI): Three Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, who were hiding in an orchard, took advantage of the thick foliage and targeted a joint party of Police and CRPF at Kreeri area in north Kashmir’s Baramulla district, killing three security forces personnel, Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said today.
“After talking to eye-witnesses and checking the technical details, it seems Lashkar men who were three in number carried out the attack near a shallow stream where a joint team was on a normal naka duty,” the IGP told reporters at the site of incident at Kreeri, Baramulla. “The terrorists fired indiscriminately at the forces resulting in the death of two CRPF men and a special police officer (SPO),” he said.
The IGP added that the police is developing leads and the attackers will be neutralised soon.
On being asked about how the terrorists carried out two back to back attacks since August 14 and managed to escape, the IGP said several measures are being taken to trace the perpetrators.
“At times, terrorists manage to flee. We are developing leads and will neutralize the men involved in the two attacks (including Nowgam) soon,” he said.
On August 14, two policemen were killed at Nowgam area of Srinagar. Police had identified the terrorists through CCTV footage and a massive manhunt was launched to track them down. The IGP had stated that Nowgam attack was carried out by Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists.
Talking about yesterday’s attack at Sopore area of Baramulla, the IGP said that it wasn’t an attack but terrorists had fired a few shots during search operation after which no contact was established with them.
Meanwhile, police sources said that a massive cordon has been launched in Kreeri and its adjoining areas to hunt the attackers while CCTV footage of the area is also being checked thoroughly.
-CHK/ARK