Three jawans killed after JeM attacks CRPF camp in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama, two militants slain

Heavily armed militants launched a pre-dawn suicide attack on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Pulwama district of South Kashmir, killing three personnel and injuring four others. CRPF officials said two militants holed up in a building block in the camp were killed in the subsequent operation to neutralise the ultras. [caption id=“attachment_4282457” align=“alignleft” width=“380”]  Security forces near the encounter site. Image courtest: Suhail Bhat[/caption] The Pakistan based militant outfit Jaish-e-Mohammed (JeM) claimed responsibility for the attack. Police sources said around 2 am, two heavily armed militants attacked the 185 battalion CRPF camp at Lethpora, some 18 kilometres south of Srinagar. “The militants lobbed grenades and resorted to heavy firing on security guards. They were armed with under-barrel grenade launchers and automatic weapons. They were challenged by camp sentries," CRPF officials said. “They manage to enter under cover of darkness, but security forces isolated them into one of its buildings,” a source added. The attack comes nearly a week after the outfit threatened to carry out an attack to avenge the killing of its top militant Noor Mohammad Tantray, alias Noor Trali. Mohammad, 47, who was barely four feet tall, recently took over as JeM’s divisional commander in South Kashmir. He was called as the ‘merchant of death’ by a special court in Delhi and was looking to revive JeM in South Kashmir. The attack has raised several questions about the alertness of security agencies as the militants have, once again, managed to strike near the busy Srinagar Jammu National Highway. Until now, the security forces had upper hand and the number of militants killed this year crossed 200, the highest in the past seven years. Internet services were suspended in Pulwama and traffic on Srinagar Jammu National Highway was halted. However, SP Vaid, Director General of Police, said security forces had an input about an impending militant strike in the Valley for the past three days. Terming the attack as “unfortunate”, Vaid said as long as Pakistan keeps sending militants, security forces and people of Kashmir will continue to go through this. “There was an input from the last two-three days. They (militants) were trying. They probably could not get a place and time earlier. So, they struck last night,” Vaid told reporters. The CRPF camp also serves as training centre for troops inducted for counter-militancy operations in Kashmir. A Jammu and Kashmir Police team is also co-located with CRPF in this camp. With inputs from PTI