Udhampur faces second terror attack in as many days, two officers injured

Just a day after a terror attack in Udhampur claimed the lives of two BSF constables, yet another attack has taken place in the Basantghar area of the town.

According to TV reports, two militants opened fire on a police post in Basantghar injuring two Special Police Officers (SPOs) injured in the process. A CNN-IBN report confirmed that the police are having difficulty in tracing the terrorists due to darkness. Quick Reactions Teams have been rushed to the encounter site, the report said.

Earlier in the day, two encounters reportedly took place in Pulwama and one suspected Lashkar-e-Taiba militant was gunned down by security personnel.

On Wednesday, a terror attack suspected to be originating from Pakistan left two BSF constables dead on the crucial Jammu-Srinagar highway, but one of the two terrorists involved was captured alive.

Mohammed Naved, a resident of Ghulam Mustafabad area in Faislabad town of Pakistan, along with another terrorist Noman alias Momin, had fired at a BSF convoy on the highway at Simroli at around 8 am on Wednesday. BSF jawans had retaliated, killing Noman while Naved managed to escape towards a village in the nearby hills where he took three villagers hostage.

The villagers had managed to capture him and called the police who took him into custody, giving the Indian security establishment a prize catch which points to Pakistani involvement in the attack.

Pakistan on Thursday had rejected India’s assertion that Naved was of Pakistani-origin and asked India to refrain from making “accusations”.

“We have also seen media reports and I will not offer any comment on that issue. We expect the Indian authorities to share information with us on the claims that are being made in the media,” Pakistan Foreign Office spokesperson Syed Qazi Khalilullah had said on the arrest of the terrorist in India.

However, a Pakistan-based man on Thursday identified himself as the father of Mohammad Naved, contradicting Pakistan’s stand that the terrorist was not from Pakistan.

(With inputs from PTI)