Armed militants stormed a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Bemina area of Srinagar, killing five paramilitary officers and injuring seven others today morning.
Hizbul Mujahideen, a Kashmiri militant group, claimed responsibility for the brazen attack in an interview with GreaterKashmir, an online news organization.
In the first suicide attack in Kashmir in three years, two of the militants, who carried out the attack were killed. There were four altogether, according to latest reports and a massive search is on for the escaped two.
Briefing reporters about the fidayeen (suicide militants) attack in Srinagar, Union Home Secretary R.K. Singh said, “The attack seems to be handiwork of militants who came from across the border in Pakistan.”
The militants opened fire on the camp, which is near a school playground. The school was shut but there were children from nearby homes playing on the ground, officials said.
The attack will further strain relations between India and Pakistan, both of whom claim the Kashmir Valley as their own, disputing the British partition of the region in the 1940s. Indian Kashmiri insurgents have demanded separation from India or a merger with Pakistan.
Though violence had dropped in recent times, the execution of Mohammad Afzal Guru, a member of the Jammu and Kashmir Liberation Front had prompted widespread protests in the state. Afzal Guru was sentenced for his role in the 2001 attacks on the Indian parliament in which 14 people, including five militants, were killed.
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