Three CRPF personnel were killed and another was critically injured on Wednesday when militants opened fire on them in Baramulla district of North Kashmir, police said.
The jawans were on patrol duty at around 2.30 p.m. when unidentified militants, armed with AK assault rifles, attacked them at Janwara-Watlab about 62 km from here, Sopore’s Additional Superintendent of Police Abdul Waheed said over phone.
The CRPF personnel also retaliated but the militants escaped from the scene, he said.
Reinforcements have been rushed to the area and a massive hunt has been launched to nab the ultras involved in the attack, he said.
No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the incident.
This is the fourth major strike by militants in Sopore since December 18 when the ultras carried out a grenade attack on a CRPF picket in the town, injuring five jawans and a civilian.
A week later, militants struck again in the town attacking a CRPF patrol party with a grenade and leaving seven persons including two jawans injured.
The grenade attacks were followed by an abortive attempt by militants yesterday to blow up a security vehicle with an Improvised Explosive Device (IED) which was neutralised by the bomb disposal squad.
However, the ruling National Conference MLA Mohammad Ashraf Ganai claimed that militants carried out a rifle grenade attack on his house at Dangerpora prior to exploding the IED.
The police maintained that no grenade explosion took place and the IED went off two km away from the legislator’s residence.
