2 civilians, 2 policemen killed in Sopore militants attack

Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said Lashkar-e-Taiba was behind the attack.

Director General of Jammu and Kashmir Police Dilbagh Singh pays tribute to two slain policemen during wreath laying ceremony in Srinagar, on Saturday, 12 June 2021.

Two civilians and two policemen were killed in a militant attack in north Kashmir’s Baramulla on Saturday. Jammu & Kashmir’s regional parties, while condemning the attack, unanimously said that “dialogue and not gun is the solution to any problem”.

Unidentified militants alighted in the main market in Baramulla’s Sopore town around noon and “opened fire indiscriminately upon a police party”. “The policemen were performing duties to enforce COVID-19 SOPs (standard operating protocol) at the time of the attack,” Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar said.

Four policemen and four civilians sustained bullet injuries. “Two policemen and two civilians succumbed to their injuries,” Mr. Kumar said. He said Lashkar-e-Taiba militants were behind the attack.

The deceased policemen were identified as Constable Showkat Ahmad and Constable Waseem Ahmad. Two deceased civilians, Manzoor Ahmad Shalla and Bashir Ahmad, were locals from Sopore.

A police spokesperson said a team of policemen was vigorously investigating all the circumstances of the terror crime.

All regional parties condemned the Sopore attack and demanded an immediate end to violence in J&K.

“The solution of Kashmir is not a gun. Neither through guns of New Delhi nor the guns taken up by local youths here. Such attacks only defame Kashmir as a solution lies only in dialogue,” Ms. Mufti said.

Policemen pay tribute to two slain policemen during wreath laying ceremony in Srinagar, on Saturday.

In a joint statement, National Conference president Dr. Farooq Abdullah and vice president Omar Abdullah, said, “We mince no words in our condemnation of the outrageous bloodshed. Violence in all its forms and manifestations constitutes the most serious threat to the dignity of human life and universal peace.”

While strongly condemning the killings in Sopore, Communist Party of India-Marxist (CPI-M) leader Mohammad Yousuf Tarigami on Saturday said violence in any form was not in the interests of the people of Jammu & Kashmir. He said said such incidents left a question before everybody on “how long the blood of people will continue to flow in Kashmir”. “Violence and killings can never be a solution to any problem. Violence must come to an immediate end,” Mr. Tarigami added.

Peoples Conference chief Sajjad Lone also demanded an end to violence. “When will this madness end? Guns came to Kashmir fighting in 1989. Thirty-two years down the line, I can unambiguously state that the gun enslaves the very people that it purports to fight for. The gunmen really need to ponder whose war they are fighting,” he said.