Sopur/Srinagar Mar 16: Three persons, including a personnel of Special Operations Group (SOG) of police were killed and 10 others wounded in two separate shootouts at Sopur in north Kashmir and Lal Chowk in the heart of Srinagar city, Tuesday.

SOPUR SHOOTOUT
Two persons, including one SOG personnel, were killed and six persons wounded, when unidentified gunmen fired upon the SOG personnel in Sopur town this evening. “Gunmen appeared near General Bus Stand and fired upon the SOG men who were purchasing vegetables, killing Ashiq Hussain and wounding his other colleague. In the shootout four civilians also sustained injuries,” witnesses told Greater Kashmir.
Injured were rushed to a hospital where Tanveer Ahmed son of Mehrajuddin succumbed to his injuries.
The injured were identified as Muhammad Shafi police constable, Taja Begum of Lasser Rafiabad, Bashir Ahmed Dar of Nowpora, Mehrajuddin Dar of Mahrajpora, Sameera Begum of Saripora Rafiabad and Gul Afroza of Narpora.
The shootout created panic in the town, with shopkeepers closing their shops and pedestrians running for cover.
Following the attack, police, army and CRPF men cordoned off the town and launched searches to trace the militants.
Pertinently, this is the 12th such incident in the town since December 2009. Authorities have already declared Sopur as independent police district.

LAL CHOWK ATTACK
One civilian was killed and four others, including two paramilitary CRPF troopers wounded when suspected militants fired upon a CRPF party in Lal Chowk here on Tuesday. “Gunmen appeared near Palladium cinema and fired upon two CRPF men from point blank range. Troopers stationed inside the Palladium bunker retaliated triggering a brief gunfight in which three civilians sustained injuries,” witnesses told Greater Kashmir.
The injured civilians and troopers were rushed to a hospital where one of the injured Khursheed Ahmad Parray, 25, son of Abdul Gani of Hawoora, Budgam 
succumbed. The other two injured civilians Me’raj Ahmad Wani of Rainawari and Me’raj-ud-din Shah of Nawa Kadal were undergoing treatment.
The Public Relations Officer of CRPF, Prabhakar Tripathi identified the wounded troopers as hawaldar Omkar Ram and constable Basant Kumar Naipi of 132 battalion. “One of them is critical and he has been shifted to SKIMS while another is out of danger,” Tripathi said. The shootout created panic in the area as people ran for cover. The vehicular traffic was disrupted while shopkeepers closed down their shops. Reinforcements rushed in, and cordoned off the Koker Bazar area and conducted searches. However, no one was arrested.
This is the second attack on the CRPF in last 3-days. On Sunday, one CRPF trooper was killed and five others were injured when militants lobbed a grenade on the CRPF party near Zaina Kadal in old city.
Pertinently, in January earlier this year, militants appeared in the same area and fired upon policemen as they later took cover in adjacent Punjab Hotel before being killed in the 20-hour gun battle.

SECURITY BEEFED UP
 Following the militant attack near Palladium, authorities beefed up the security in the entire city.
 Scores of paramilitary CRPF troopers and policemen were deployed at sensitive places and they were seen checking and frisking the pedestrians and vehicles. “We have got inputs about militants having sneaked into the city,” a police official told Greater Kashmir.
 He said that security had been beefed up as a preventive measure. “Vigil has been tightened to keep militants at bay as they may try to target some vital place,” the official added.

PROTESTS IN BUDGAM
Protests erupted in Hawoora Budgam this afternoon when the body of Khursheed Ahmad reached there. The protesters alleged that Khursheed was killed in indiscriminate firing by CRPF.
Scores of people, including men women and children, raising pro-freedom slogans took to the streets and staged a massive demonstration.
“Eyewitnesses told us that CRPF men fired indiscriminately while trying to flee from the spot. Khursheed was killed due to their firing,” his cousin, Zahoor Ahmad said.

Timeline
*Nov 1, 2009: Two cops injured when gunmen fired upon them near Qamarwari

*Dec 23, 2009: Two cops killed, another injured when gunmen fired upon a police party near Kadalbal in Pampore

*Dec 30, 2009: Gunmen lobbed grenade on a CRPF patrol party at Sopur-Bandipore road killing four troopers

*Jan 2, 2010: Gunmen shoot at BSF troopers near Soura when they were drawing cash from ATM. Two BSF men injured.

*Jan 2, 2010: Gunmen lobbed grenade on Palladium cinema in Lal Chowk. Device failed to explode

*Jan 6, 2010: Gunmen attacked Palladium and took refuge in Hotel Punjab. 2 militants, 1 cop, 1 civilian killed

*Mar 7, 2010: Gunmen shot dead a surrendered militant Aijaz Ahmad Dada at Bemina

*Mar 12, 2010: Gunmen shot dead a SPO near Jawahar Nagar

*Mar 14, 2009: CRPF party attacked near Zaina Kadal. One trooper killed, 5 injured

Lastupdate on : Tue, 16 Mar 2010 21:30:00 Makkah time
Lastupdate on : Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:30:00 GMT
Lastupdate on : Wed, 17 Mar 2010 00:00:00 IST