Updated: November 27, 2020 4:32:45 pm
Indian army soldiers stand guard inside their military base. (Photo: Reuters / Archive)
Two soldiers from the Army Rapid Reaction Team succumbed to gunshot wounds on Thursday afternoon after two militants opened indiscriminate fire on a convoy deployed on the Zainakote road in the Srinagar suburbs, less than 2 km from the headquarters. of the counterinsurgent force Kilo.
J&K police sources told The Indian Express that a joint search operation was launched to catch the gunmen who were armed with automatic weapons, wearing combat uniforms and traveling in a Maruti car in the high security zone. Police suspect the attackers were Pakistani terrorists from Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM).
“Terrorists fired indiscriminately at the Indian Army Rapid Reaction Team in Aban Shah Chowk, HMT, Khushipora, Srinagar earlier today. Two soldiers were seriously injured and were evacuated to the nearest medical center. However, they succumbed to their injuries, ”said Defense spokesman Colonel Rajesh Kalia.
J&K police said the soldiers who died were from the Territorial Army and identified them as Sepoy Ratan (163rd Battalion) and Sepoy Deshmukh (101st Battalion).
The Kashmir Valley, especially the city of Srinagar and its outskirts, has witnessed at least five of these “shoot and run” attacks this year against police, paramilitaries and army personnel:
# On October 5, militants killed two members of the CRPF and wounded three others in the group near Kandizal on the Srinagar-Jammu highway.
# On August 30, militants fired at the JK Police Special Operations Group (SOG) during a rifle theft attempt. In the shooting that followed, three militants and a policeman were killed.
# On August 17, militants fired at a joint security team in the village of Kreeri in northern Kashmir, killing two CRPF members and a police officer. Three militants and two military personnel were killed in the shooting that followed.
# On August 14, militants killed two policemen in Nowgam Srinagar on the Srinagar-Jammu highway.
# On June 14, a CRPF officer was killed and two staff members were injured in a similar attack in Panthachowk, outside the city of Srinagar.
Meanwhile, two soldiers were injured in the Kupwara district in an accidental fire. The sources said that the soldiers, who were injured when a gun was accidentally fired, were taken to the army hospital in Kupwara, and one of them later to the army base hospital in Srinagar.
© The Indian Express (P) Ltd
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