Srinagar: Militants Thursday morning shot dead a government school principal and a teacher in an Old Srinagar area even as a massive hunt was launched to trap the assailants.
Police identified the slain as Supinder Kour (Principal), a resident of Rengipora Beerwah, presently living at Alochi Bagh area here, and Deepak Chand (Teacher), a resident of Jammu.
Police said that militants stormed into the Government Boys Higher Secondary School in Sangam, Eidgah, in the jurisdiction of Police Station Safa Kadal Srinagar. They said both the principal and the teacher were fired upon from the close range.
Police said that they were shifted to SKIMS Soura, however, were declared brought dead by the doctors.
There were no students in the school as classes are still online. The attendance of students has been barred in Kashmir schools in wake of COVID-19 pandemic.
“At about 11.15 am, terrorists shot dead two school teachers at Sangam Eidgah in Srinagar,” a police official said here. “According to school staff the terrorists were three in number and were pistol borne.”
The official said that a meeting was going on in principal’s chamber when the incident took place. “Terrorists barged into the room and opened fire on them from close range with pistols and managed their escape from the spot,” police said.
The staff of the school was in a shock. “We heard the firing shots and saw both the teachers lying in pool of blood,” the staff of the school told the reporters. “We were sitting in another room at the time of the incident.”
Soon after the incident, senior police and paramilitary officers arrived at the spot to take stock of situation. Those who arrived included Director General of Police, Dilbag Singh, Inspector General of Police, Vijay Kumar and Senior Superintendent of Police, Sandeep Choudhary.
The attack is seen part of a spike in civilian killings by the militants that has put the security establishment on guard.
Today’s incident created panic in the entire city and fear was palpable on the faces of residents.
Earlier, on Tuesday day evening, famous chemist M L Bindroo was shot dead inside his pharmacy near Iqbal Park here. Less than an hour after his killing, in second attack a street vendor was shot by dead by militants near Madina Chowk Lalbazar in Srinagar. The deceased, identified as Virendra Paswan, was a resident of Bihar’s Bhagalpur.
In the third attack on same day another civilian, identified as Mohd Shafi Lone, was shot dead by the militants in Bandipora district in North Kashmir. A resident of Naidkhai, Lone was killed in the Shahgund area of Bandipora.
Meanwhile, a police handout said: “Today at about 1130hrs Srinagar Police received information about a terror crime incident at Sangam area of Eidgah Srinagar where terrorists had fired upon staff members of a Govt School.
“DGP J&K Dilbag Singh-IPS along with IGP Kashmir Vijay Kumar-IPS, IG CRPF Charu Sinha and other senior officers of Police/CAPF reached at the terror crime spot.
“Preliminary investigation revealed that terrorists had fired upon the Principal and a teacher of the Govt Boys Higher Secondary School Sangam. They have been identified as Supinder Kour (Principal), a resident of Rengipora Beerwah and Deepak Chand (Teacher), a resident of Jammu. In this terror incident, both had received grievous gunshot injuries and were immediately evacuated to nearby hospital. However, both of them have succumbed to their injuries.
“Police have registered a case in this regard under relevant sections of law. Investigation is in progress and officers continue to work to establish the full circumstances of this terror crime. Area has been cordoned and search in the area is going on.”