Five CRPF men killed in Anantnag, SHO injured

Suhail A Shah

Anantnag, June 12

Five personnel of the Central Reserve Police Force, two of them Assistant Sub-Inspectors (ASIs), were killed while four others —  a Station House Officer (SHO) of the Jammu and Kashmir Police, two forces’ personnel and a civilian woman — were injured in the biggest militant attack since Pulwama on February 14, in Anantnag district of south Kashmir.

A militant was also gunned down in retaliatory fire by security forces personnel, taking the toll to six.

The slain CRPF men were identified as ASI Neeru Sharma, ASI Ramesh Kumar, Constable Satender Kumar, Constable MK Khushwaha and Constable Mahesh Kumar.

The injured forces personnel were being treated at the Army’s base hospital in Srinagar. The injured SHO, Arshid Khan, was about to be airlifted to Srinagar while this report was being filed. “He has a chest injury and a grievous one,” a doctor at Anantnag district hospital said.

The incident took place around 4.30 pm near the Government Women’s College along the Khannabal-Pahalgam (KP) road in main town Anantnag.

A senior police official said the militants, believed to be two to three in number, attacked a CRPF deployment along the KP road. “The militants opened indiscriminate fire, killing five personnel of the CRPF on the spot and injuring two others,” the official said.

He said SHO Khan was attending a seminar at the Women’s College. He rushed to the spot after hearing the gunfire. “He was shot at as he reached the spot and was soon evacuated,” the official said. 

“A militant, believed to be a foreign national, was gunned down in retaliatory fire by the security forces.”

Following the attack, a huge contingent of Army, CRPF and the police cordoned off the area as two more militants were believed to be trapped in the area.

A little known outfit, Al-Umer Mujahideen, claimed responsibility for the attack, which came after a series of successful anti-militancy operations in south Kashmir.