CRPF jawan, civilian killed terror attack
■ Heartbreaking: Child weeps over granddad’s body killed in terror stike
A Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) jawan was killed and two others were injured in a sneak attack carried out by separatist militants in Jammu and Kashmir’s Sopore town, 48-km northwest of capital Srinagar on Wednesday.
A civilian, identified as 65-year-old Bashir Ahmed Khan, also died in the incident. The images of the shootout aftermath showing Khan’s three-year-old grandson Ayaad sitting on his bullet-riddled corpse lying on the road, and then walking towards security personnel inconsolably went vital, casting a gloom over the Valley.
The J&K police said that two Lashkar-e-Tayyaba — Osman and Nasir — carried out the attack.
“Credible input indicates that two LeT militants, Osman, a foreigner and Nasir were involved in the attack on the joint police and CRPF party, a police spokesman said.
While the CRPF and J&K police said that Khan, a resident of Srinagar, was hit by bullets fired by militants hiding in the attic of a nearby mosque, the slain man’s family had a much different story. “The shootout sent pedestrians and those driving through the area running for cover. My father couldn’t do it because my nephew was sitting in the front passenger’s seat. The CRPF guys dragged him out of his car and shot him dead in cold blood,” said Khan’s son.
His sister while calling for “blood for blood” to avenge her father’s “coldblooded murder”, said:
“My father has been killed and those who killed him should be killed as well”. She asked, “Didn’t they see a little kid along with my father?”. The family sources said that Khan, a contractor by profession, was on way to the Sopore neighbourhood to oversee
the progress at construction work and took his grandson along, not knowing about the fate in waiting for him.
Questioning the veracity of the family’s allegations, a senior police officer said, “What they have said is totally false. How can they say that the man was shot by security forces? They are not witnesses to the incident.”
Inspector-general of police Vijay Kumar said that if there are any eyewitnesses they should come forward. “We will act accordingly.”
The CRPF said that its men had just arrived in Sopore’s Model Town for patrolling duties that the militants hiding in the nearby mosque fired indiscriminately on them, injuring four of them. Head constable Dipchand Verma died soon thereafter whereas the others — Bhoya Rajesh, Deepak Patil and Nilesh Chawde — have been shifted to a military hospital in Srinagar, a CRPF spokesman said. He added, “One civilian died on the spot in the militant act”.