CISF officer killed in shootout with militants in J&K’s Nowgam

The CRPF trooper who was injured in the attack Friday night, later died in a hospital.

Militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed the use of sniper rifles in a standoff fire (shooting from a distance) launched by ultras on a camp on the outskirts of Srinagar early on Saturday in which a CISF officer was killed.

Paramilitary troopers on guard after a gunfight with militants in Kashmir.(AFP File Photo/Representative image)

CISF assistant sub inspector Rajendra Prasad was shot inside the grid station at Wagoora Nowgam in a standoff fire by militants, a police spokesman said.

“The attack was repulsed by alert sentry at the spot. Officer Prasad was shifted to hospital. He, however, succumbed to his injuries,’’ the spokesman said.

Jaish-e-Mohammad spokesman in a press note to a local news agency claimed responsibility for the Nowgam attack and said sniper and grenades were used in the attack.

Police officials, who did not wish to be identified, said they suspected the use of sniper rifles, but did not confirm, saying they were verifying the matter.

In the last one week, this is the third attack where militants targeted forces personnel from a distance.

On Thursday night, a soldier, sepoy Ngamsiamliana from Mizoram, was killed and another injured in a standoff attack by militants on an army camp at Lurgam in Tral south Kashmir.

On Sunday, militants had targeted the CRPF camp at Midora in Pulwama district and killed an SSB constable Vijay Kumar. The SSB jawans were deployed for the local body elections in Pulwama.

In all the three cases, the militants had fled by the time Quick Reaction Teams (QRT’s) of the army and the special operations group of the police reached the spot.

JeM had claimed responsibility for all the three attacks.

A senior army officer said standoff attacks are mounted from a distance. “We have no such information whether in these attacks sniper rifles were used or militants used grenades and AK rifles or UBGLs (under barrel grenade launcher). The investigations are going on,” the officer said on condition of anonymity.

A senior police officer cautioned that if it is found that militants have started using sniper, then the situation could be alarming.

“We are still verifying details. So far, we have no clue about the weapons used in these attacks. If snipers are used, then the forces will have to adopt preventive methods to avoid causalities in the future,” he said on condition of anonymity.