CRPF Special DG Sandeep Khirwar Meets LG Manoj Sinha, Reviews Security After Kulgam Attack

Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) Special Director General Sandeep Khirwar on Thursday called on Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha and discussed the prevailing security scenario in the Union Territory, according to a release from Lok Bhawan.

The meeting came after three CRPF personnel from the 46th Battalion were injured after the unidentified assailant opened fire on them around 2.15 pm on Wednesday when they were on 'naka' (checkpost) duty. The incident spot was around 4 km from the National Highway.

The injured personnel were identified as Head Constable Somveer Singh and Constables Rakesh Dass and Santosh Chandru. Chandru, a resident of West Bengal, sustained injuries to his abdomen and spine, and his condition is stated to be serious. Constable Rakesh Dass, who hails from Assam, suffered a bullet injury to his leg, while Head Constable Somveer Singh, a resident of Madhya Pradesh, sustained a bullet injury to his arm. Both are stated to be stable.

The injured CRPF personnel were initially shifted to Anantnag district hospital, from where the critically injured was later shifted to Srinagar's Badamibagh Army Hospital for treatment.

Further, Ramban Police and the public observed a two-minute silence to pay tribute to the two J-K Police SPOs who lost their lives in the line of duty.

Meanwhile, a multi-agency search operation in close coordination with Jammu and Kashmir Police, CRPF and Indian Army has been launched at various places across Kashmir to nab the perpetrators.

As the multi-agency search operation continued across Kashmir to nab the perpetrators behind indiscriminate firing on a 'naka'  injuring three CRPF personnel a day ago, intelligence gathering and reports collected from the spot so far indicated the handiwork of one attacker who came on foot and launched burst gunfire using a high-calibre weapon, possibly an AK-47 from nearly 50-60 gauge, before fleeing from the spot in South Kashmir's Akhran area in Kulgam district.

Officials, privy to the development, told ANI that the attacker came on foot, emerged from the row of closed shops and fired bullets at the three CRPF personnel deployed on the checkpost, which was nearly 100 metres away from the CRPF's 46th Battalion camp.

"Only one person fired on the CRPF personnel deployed on the naka. The shooter fired from a range of around 50-60 gauge. It was a sudden fire from the row of closed shops across the road near the naka," said an official, citing the inputs collected from the spot till now.

In Kulgam district, a massive cordon and search operation (CASO) continued on Thursday after unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire on CRPF personnel deployed at a security checkpoint in Nowpora Akhran on Wednesday.

In another incident from Kishtwar, the bullet-riddled bodies of the two SPOs, identified as Babi Chand (57) and Rashpal Kumar (45), were recovered on Thursday morning, a day after they went missing in the remote Dachhan belt.

The two personnel were posted with the Special Operations Group (SOG) of the local police at Kiyar village in Dachhan. They had gone missing on Wednesday while travelling from their camp towards an Army post at Dharna-Marwah.

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