Just a day before Indian Independence Day, Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists shot dead two Jammu and Kashmir policemen and wounded another in indiscriminate firing in the Nowgam area on the outskirts of the Srinagar city, police said.
According to the police, the terrorists have been identified and will be neutralized soon.
Terrorists fired indiscriminately on a police party near Nowgam bypass Friday morning, a police official said, adding three policemen were injured in the attack.
The policemen were shifted to a hospital where two of them died and the third was undergoing treatment, the official said.
JeM Behind the attack
Inspector-General of Police Kashmir, Vijay Kumar, announced that the Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) carried out the attack.
Jaish-e-Mohammed is a Pakistan-based Deobandi jihadist Islamic Mujahideen group active in Kashmir.
“They fired indiscriminately and two of our jawans were martyred… We have identified them, they belong to JeM group. We will neutralize them soon,” Kumar told reporters near the site of the attack.
Replying to question about prior intelligence input about a possible terrorist attack on the eve of the Independence Day, the IGP said the police get such inputs every year.
“We have such inputs every year before August 15 and January 26. We had inputs that they will try (an attack) in some areas. The boys were alert and prepared, but they (the militants) came from the rear side and fired on them.
“We have cordoned off the area and the searches are on. This is a narrow lane and there was civilian movement and if our boys would have retaliated, there would have been the loss of civilian, so they exercised restraint,” Kumar said.
PDP condemned the attack, saying it will further aggravate the situation for Kashmiris.
“Vehemently condemn the attack on @JmuKmrPolice personnel. Such attacks further aggravate the situation for Kashmiris already reeling under double disaster post-August 5. We join the families of deceased in mourning their loss,” the party tweeted.
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