SSB jawan dead, 8 hurt as convoy hit in Srinagar

At least one Sashastra Seema Bal (SSB) jawan was killed and seven others and also a J&K Police driver were injured in a militant ambush in Srinagar on Friday evening.

The condition of four injured jawans is stated to be critical, the latest in a string of attacks since India conducted a military operation across the LoC to avenge a deadly attack by Pakistan-backed terrorists in Kashmir’s Uri last month.

Police sources said that a small convoy of the SSB came under the sneak attack by militants at Zakura on the outskirts of Srinagar at about 7.30 pm. The militants fired AK assault rifles to target the central security force personnel returning to their base after performing law and order duty in Srinagar city.

The SSB men returned fire but the militants reportedly fled the scene through a nursery. J&K police, CRPF and SSB reinforcements reached the spot and laid siege to a vast area to start searches.

Ambulances were seen coming out of the area and going towards a City hospital. A resident said that security forces cordoned a nearby cluster of residential houses. “They are very aggressive and are searching our houses minutely,” he said over the phone.

The ambush took place barely a couple of hours after the authorities in Jammu and Kashmir in the light of increasing number of militancy-related incidents decided not only to step up security across the State but also to resume counterinsurgency operations on a major scale.

Further, the security at and around government buildings and other vital installations and the bases and camps of various security forces is being augmented.

The decision was taken at a meeting of senior officers of the Army, J&K police, CRPF and Intelligence Bureau (IB) held at Raj Bhavan here on Friday in the backdrop of recent 57-hour standoff between two militants and troops at Pampore near here.

Meanwhile, Kashmir remained relatively peaceful on Friday. It was for the first time since the killing of Hizb-ul-Mujahedin commander Burhan Muzaffar Wani on July 8 triggered widespread disturbances in the Valley that no major incident of violence was reported from anywhere on a Friday. A complete shutdown was observed in the Valley on the 98th day of unrest.