NEW DELHI: The Pampore attack in Jammu and Kashmir “appears to be” the handiwork of Lashker-e-Taiba (LeT) terror outfit, CRPF Director General Prakash Mishra said today here.
He said initial inputs of the encounter, in which five security personnel and a civilian have been killed till now, suggest that the modus operandi adopted by the militants bore similarity to attacks that had occurred in Udhampur in J-K and Gurdaspur in Punjab recently where security personnel were targeted.
“Lashkar (LeT) appears to be behind this…The operation is still on. It is suspected that there could be 3-5 militants who are involved in the attack. The assault by security forces is in its final stages,” Mishra told journalists here.
He said it is understood that the militants are heavily armed with weapons like AK-47 assault rifles and grenades and “certainly” came prepared for a long operation given the huge cache of arms and ammunition they hold.
Mishra, who had recently toured the Kashmir valley, said the area where the attack took place is a “volatile” zone as sometime back also militants had attacked a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) squad around here.
The paramilitary force chief said security forces are “always” on alert while making their movement in these areas as he refused to go into the specifics of any intelligence input being received in this regard.
Officials said while an Assistant Commandant-rank officer of CRPF Rakesh Raman was critically injured and admitted to a hospital ICU, area commander of the force and Inspector General (Kashmir zone) Atul Karwal and an another trooper have received minor injuries while tackling the militants holed up in the EDI building.(Agencies)
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