Three injured as militants open fire inside bank
FAILED BID Cops say people present at the spot foiled attempt to loot J&K Bank
A civilian and two security guards were injured on Friday after suspected militants opened fire inside a bank during an alleged robbery attempt in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district.
: A civilian and two security guards were injured on Friday after suspected militants opened fire inside a bank during an alleged robbery attempt in south Kashmir’s Kulgam district, officials said.
Police said people foiled the attempt of militants to allegedly loot a Jammu and Kashmir Bank in Mohanpora, Kulgam.“Two to three militants barged into the bank but were surrounded by people present in the bank which unnerved the gunmen. The militants then opened fire wounding a civilian and the two guards of the bank. The injured are stable,” Kulgam’s superintendent of police Harmeet Singh said.
The officer said the militants fled from the spot after the firing and that the two guards carrying 12-bore guns were not able to retaliate.
Earlier in the day, an unidentified man snatched a 12-bore gun from a guard in the Shopian branch of the same bank.
The snatching incident comes just hours after suspected militants barged into the guard post of former Congress leader Mohammad Shafi Banday late on Thursday evening at Bona Bazar in the district.
Police said that Banday, who is reportedly associated with the Peoples Democratic Party now, was not at home as the militants managed to flee with four rifles.
A police spokesperson claimed their probe “suggests complicity of proscribed terror outfit HM (Hizbul Mujahideen) in the incident”. “A search operation is underway in the nearby areas. The circumstances leading to the incident is being ascertained,” the spokesperson said on Thursday night.
Officials manning the police control room in Shopian said the guns, which were snatched were self-loading. They said the militants managed to sneak into the premises when the cops opened the gate for the family of one of their colleagues. “Five policemen present in the guard room have been suspended,” an official said.
Shopian’s superintendent of police Sandeep Choudhary refused to comment.
Government data presented in the state assembly in January this year shows that 149 guns and 102 tear gas shells and grenades were looted by militants in Jammu and Kashmir in the past three years out of which 76 have been recovered.
Of the 149 rifles and pistols, 66 were snatched in 2016 mostly in south Kashmir after the death of Hizbul militant Burhan Wani.
The incidents have continued this year as well.