CRPF JAWAN AND CIVILIAN KILLED IN J&K ATTACK, CHILD RESCUED
SRINAGAR: A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper and a civilian were killed in a terrorist attack on security forces in north Kashmir’s Sopore town on Wednesday, officials said.
The three-year-old grandson of the deceased civilian was rescued by security forces, according to officials. A photograph of him sitting on the lifeless body of his grandfather was widely shared on social media. The Jammu and Kashmir Police later shared on its official Twitter handle a picture of the child being carried by a security official.
Terrorists hiding in the attic of a mosque fired at CRPF personnel when they were getting off a bus around 7:30am, a spokesperson of the paramilitary force said. The CRPF personnel retaliated, but the terrorists managed to escape. It was not immediately clear how many terrorists were holed up inside the mosque. Three CRPF personnel were wounded and admitted to a hospital.
SRINAGAR: A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) trooper and a civilian were killed in a terrorist attack on security forces in north Kashmir’s Sopore town on Wednesday, officials said.
The three-year-old grandson of the deceased civilian was rescued by security forces, according to officials. A photograph of him sitting on the lifeless body of his grandfather was widely shared on social media. The Jammu and Kashmir Police later shared on its official Twitter handle a picture of the child being carried by a security official.
Terrorists hiding in the attic of a mosque fired at CRPF personnel when they were getting off a bus around 7.30am, a spokesperson of the paramilitary force said. The CRPF personnel retaliated, but the terrorists managed to escape. It was not immediately clear how many terrorists were holed up inside the mosque.
CRPF head constable Deep Chand suffered bullet injuries and died in the attack. Three others were wounded and admitted to a hospital.
The civilian, a 65-year-old resident of Srinagar, was passing by in his car with his three-year-old grandson when the attack began.
His family accused CRPF of
killing him, a charge dismissed by security forces as “false news” spread by miscreants. In a video, the man’s son said his father left home for some work in the morning, and alleged that he was “brought down from his vehicle and fired upon”.
Vijay Kumar, inspector general of police, Kashmir Range, said terrorists fired indiscriminately at CRPF personnel when they were de-boarding a bus. Panicked, the civilian rushed out of his vehicle with the child to escape, but was killed by a bullet.
The Jammu and Kashmir Apni Party, led by Altaf Bukhari, demanded an impartial probe into the killing. The National Conference and the Peoples Democratic Party (PDP), too, demanded a time-bound probe.
Every incident becomes a “propaganda tool in the bloody violence in Kashmir”, former chief minister Omar Abdullah said.
“A three year old toddler has to have his misery broadcast to the whole world to drive home the ‘we good they bad’ message,” he said on Twitter. “We would have expected no less from the men in uniform than to rescue the young boy and for that they have our gratitude but we would expect better than for them to film & use a three year old’s pain the way it’s being done today,” he added.