Man with axe tries to snatch CRPF jawan’s rifle but fails

SRINAGAR:An assailant attacked a CRPFmanwithanaxebutfailed to snatch his rifle in South Kashmir’s Kulgam district on Thursday. Officials said the CRPF jawan, Ashok Kumar,46, was deployedoutsidethedeputycommissioner’s office in Kulgam when a person, hiding an axe, approached him from behind.

The CRPF spokesman said Kumarisanassistantsub-inspector of 18 batallion. He belongs to HamirpurinHP.Theofficialsaid Kumarhasreceivedthreecutsin his head and his condition is stated to be critical. “The attackerhitthejawaninhisback and tried to snatch his rifle. But the jawan resisted bravely, forcing the assailant to run away,” said CRPF spokesman, Sanjay Sharma.

The officer also said the jawan was wounded in the attack and has been admitted in army’s 92-basehospital.SincetheCentre hadannouncedcessationofsecurity operations against militants in Ramzan from May 17, there have been a number of weapon snatching attempts on security forces. An AK-47 and an INSAS rifles were taken away by suspected militants at Drabrun, Anantnagfrompersonalsecurity officer of a protected person on Friday night. A constable was killed on May 11 in a suspected militant attack on a police post set-up to guard members of the minority community in central Kashmir’s Budgam. The militants wanted to snatch weapons but a policeman, who was waylaid by militants outside his post, raised an alarm. The police have also started reviewing the security of protected persons and issued a fresh list of policemen guarding them.