Rich tributes were paid on Tuesday to two Central Reserve Police Force(CRPF) jawans who were killed after militants attacked a Road Opening Party (ROP) at Pampore in south Kashmir district of Pulwama.
Senior Army, CRPF and police officers and officials paid floral tributes at the mortal remains of Constable Shalindar Pratap Singh and Devendra Kumar Tripathi who made supreme sacrifice in the line of duty at Pampore in Pulwama district on Monday aferrnoon. The wreath laying ceremony was held at Humhama in central Kashmir district of Badgam.
Three other CRPF personnel, including Assistant Sub Inspector Gorakh Nath, were injured in the attack. However, their condition is stated to be stable.
The mortal remains of both the CRPF personnel have been sent to their respective native places for last rites. Inspector General of Police (IGP), Kashmir range, Vijay Kumar, speaking to mediapersons after paying tributes to martyrs, said both the militants of Laskhker-e-Toiba (LeT) involved in the attack have been identified. One was local and another was a Pakistani resident Saifullah, he said adding they will be neutralized soon.
They had probably came on motorcycle from Pampore side, he said adding they fired indiscriminately at ROP before escaping from the spot at 1240 hrs.
Mr Kumar rejected reports that militants after the attack took away weapons of the CRPF personnel. It is baseless and totally incorrect, he added.
There is nothing to worry and everything is under control, IGP Kumar said adding security forces are already on high alert. However, he said, security forces are not retaliating to avoid civilian death as highway remained busy throughout the day that is why they are attacking security personnel on the highway.
In reply to a question he it is not possible to check every vehicle on the highway which could lead to traffic jam and inconvenience to people. However, he said, we are getting intelligence inputs from time to time about the militant movement and act accordingly.
Three militants were killed after they attacked a naka party of Special Operation Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir at Pantha chowk on August 30. An Assistant Sub Inspector (ASI) of SOG was also killed while a militant was allowed to surrender during the encounter