SRINAGAR: Two militants hiding automatic rifles and grenades in cricket kit opened fire on a paramilitary camp near here yesterday, killing five Indian personnel and wounding five, police said.
The militants were killed in a gunfight at the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) base just outside the restive city of Srinagar, which has been under curfew for much of the last few weeks following protests and clashes with police.
Local media reports said that Hizbul Mujahideen, the bitterly disputed region’s largest militant group, had claimed responsibility for the attack, in which three civilians were also wounded.
Police said the gunmen approached the camp by mingling with children playing cricket in a nearby field, hiding their weapons in cricket kit they were carrying. Once at the camp, they shot a sentry dead and then fired indiscriminately into the base.
Abdul Gani Mir, Inspector General of Police, told Reuters TV: “We have lost five of our CRPF personnel who gunned down the two militants.” One police official said earlier the gunmen were dressed as cricketers.
Police said a group of youths hurled stones at a vehicle taking those who were injured in the paramilitary camp attack to hospital, and one of them was injured when CRPF officials opened fire. A hospital official said the youth subsequently died. Reuters
