Civilian killed, 3 cops injured in Sopore

Series of strikes on Police on anniversary of 1993 massacre

Ahmed Ali Fayyaz

SRINAGAR, Jan 7: A shopkeeper died and three Police personnel sustained injuries, two of them critically, when militants carried out a series of broad daylight strikes on Police in the north Kashmir township of Sopore on the 19^th anniversary of massacre in which nearly 50 civilians had died and scores of commercial establishments and residential structures had perished in 1993.

Informed sources in north Kashmir told Early Times that two militants carrying AK-47 rifles fired towards Police Station at Sopore when the apple town bustling with business at 1050 hours. Guards on duty fired back in air but with the advantage of a human shield, both the militants vanished into a narrow alley.

Even as most of the shopkeepers and pedestrians ran for life and Police launched a minor search operation, three to more militants in ambush at Main Chowk fired indiscriminately on a passing Gypsy. It was carrying SP Sopore Imtiyaz Hussain Mir’s escort personnel to the Police Station. SP Sopore was on way to Jammu to attend an official meeting with Director General of Police, Kuldeep Khoda, and other senior officers. However, re returned from Srinagar when the meeting was canceled due to overnight snowfall and none of the flights operated at Srinagar Airport.

While SP Imtiyaz was in Srinagar and driving back to Sopore, militants targeted one of his escort vehicles that had stayed back. According to sources, almost the entire unit of SOG Sopore was busy with an operation outside the township when the militants struck in a big way, after weeks of calm in Sopore.

Sources said that three of SP’s escort personnel, including his Personal Security Officer (PSO), sustained injuries in the ambush at Main Chowk. With a lightning speed, militants made good their escape after leaving three personnel wounded. A 31-year-old shopkeeper, who was walking towards his work place, was hit in the crossfire. He died on spot. He was identified as Meraj Ahmad Sheikh S/o Ghulam Ahmad Sheikh R/o Gulshan Mohalla, Shah Gund, Sumbal.

SP Sopore, Imtiyaz Hussain Mir, told Early Times that in the first incident at Police Station, guards did not retaliate for fear of civilian casualties as large number of people were in movement when the militants struck from an alley, some 50 yards away. He said that the second strike was clearly an ambush. A Police Rakhshak passed by few minutes earlier but militants did not target the armoured vehicle. However, as soon as they spotted a non-BP Gypsy, they opened indiscriminate fire. Three of the escort personnel, including one of Mir’s PSOs, sustained injuries.

SP Sopore said that all the three injured personnel were evacuated by a Police party led by SHO Sopore. While one of them, selection grade constable Mudassar Ahmad of Srinagar, was treated at Sub District Hospital of Sopore and later in the day discharged, two more with critical injuries were admitted to 92 Base Hospital at headquarters 15 Corps in Srinagar. Both were battling for life and had not been declared out of danger till late tonight. They were identified as selection grade constable Shabir Ahmad of Shopian and constable Altaf Ahmad of Ganderbal.

Mir claimed that the civilian was hit by the militants’ fire. He said that one of the fleeing militants was identified as Hizbul Mujahideen’s Javed Matoo of Mohalla Khushaal Matoo who was hit in his hand but managed to escape under the cover of civilian concentration. He claimed that Matoo’s short barrel AK-47 rifle was seized by Police.

Third successive strike of the day happened 20 minutes later near the Bus Stand when militants fired a couple of rifle grenades. Both exploded in the air and failed to cause any damage in the cluster of Police and CRPF installations in the town.

Some of the residents contested Police claim that the shopkeeper died in the militants’ firing. At least one of them alleged that Police fired indiscriminately minutes after the militant strike. He suggested that the shopkeeper died in that over-reaction. However, immediately there were no such pointed allegations against Police by the traders’ community.

Residents claimed that at least four civilians sustained minor splinter injuries and three more got injured due to falling in the stampede. They said that the series of militant strikes led to virtual panic and stampedes at the crowded places. Shopkeepers, who were at work in defiance of chilly winds and moderate snowfall overnight, downed shutters and left back to their places of residence. Within minutes, the business hub turned into a ghost town.

Officials claimed that they were already on high alert as certain intelligence inputs had indicated “major trouble” on the 19^th anniversary of the massacre of January 6, 1993, when around 50 civilians had got killed and equal number of commercial and residential structures had perished in an inferno allegedly set off by Border Security Force.

“We were actually expecting it yesterday”, SP Sopore said. “Hardliner Syed Ali Shah Geelani, who is actually from Sopore, had been repeatedly mentioning the 1993 carnage in his statements since last month. We had also inputs from our planted sources that Hizbul Mujahideen could strike on January 6^th in a big way. But it came a day later when our Special Operations Group was busy with an operation outside the town and I was myself on way to an official meeting in Jammu”, Mir added.

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