Militants sent a chilling reminder to the Mehbooba Mufti-led government on Saturday when they attacked an Army convoy on the strategic Srinagar-Jammu National Highway at Kadlabal, Pampore, in south Kashmir, leaving at least three army men dead.
The attack follows the killing of the north and south chiefs of Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) 10 days ago.
The incident occurred at Kadlabal-Pampore between 3 and 3.15 pm when the convoy was on its way from Jammu to Srinagar. Militants fired indiscriminately on the convoy before escaping through the maze of lanes and by-lanes in the area.
Three soldiers were injured in the incident. They succumbed to the injuries later. Security forces immediately retaliated and tried to chase the militants away, but to no avail. However, they recovered a magazine of a gun from a nearby lane. The entire area was cordoned off and massive search operations have been launched to track down the militants.
Army and security forces retaliated and the terrorists were forced to runaway. "The area was crowded, so we could not fire openly. We always remain alert on the National Highway," said Zulfikar Hassan, Inspector-General of Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), operations.
Panic gripped the area after the firing, with people running helter-skelter."I was parking my vehicle when I heard the gunshots. When I came out, I saw people running helter-skelter. Later on, the Army came in and started search operations," said a local resident of Kadlabal.
Police said the militants came in a minibus to attack the convoy on the highway. "Militants came in a minibus and fled in the same vehicle after attacking the convoy", said Dr SP Vaid, Special Director General of Police (law and order).
Sources said an internal report prepared by another security agency suggested that two militants on a bike started chasing the army bus in the general area Pampore. Near Kadlabal Chowk the bus slowed down a little and the bike rider applied break to stop but the bike skidded. Then the pillion rider got down and ran towards the bus. He was carrying two weapons. He fired both on the bus from the side purposely keeping fire above glass level. With the result three soldiers died, sources said.
This is the second major attack after the November 29 Nagrota terror attack in Jammu and Kashmir. On November 29, a group of heavily armed fidayeens (suicide bombers) donning police uniforms stormed into in the highly fortified camp of 166 field regiment and killed seven soldiers, including two majors, at Nagrota on the Jammu-Srinagar highway,
Three militants were later neutralised in the day-long gunfight. Sixteen hostages, including two soldiers, two women and two children, were rescued.
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