2 BSF men killed in J&K attack

In a deadly terror attack, two Border Security Force (BSF) personnel were killed and four others injured when militants ambushed their vehicle outside the Awantipora IAF airfield in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Saturday afternoon.

Official sources said a BSF party was changing guard at the airfield in Quil, Pulwama, 32 km from here, in the afternoon when three to four terrorists opened fire at them from automatic weapons.

Six paramilitary troopers of “G” company of BSF’s 165 Battalion, who sustained critical injuries in the attack, were immediately shifted to a nearby hospital where two of them succumbed to injuries, they said.

The BSF party that came under attack was deployed for securing the Indian Air Force airfield in Quil, sources said. The two slain BSF men have been identified as assistant sub-inspector (ASI) Rudal Yadav and head constable Yadav Singh while head constable Jai Prassad, constables Prabjot Singh, Vinod Kumar and Amar Singh suffered injuries.

A police official told Deccan Herald that the militants, after carrying out the attack, fled and disappeared into nearby orchards.

Reports said soon after the deadly attack, Army, police and paramilitary troopers cordoned off the whole area and launched a search operation to nab the attackers.

However, till late in the evening, no arrests were made, reports added.

The Hizb-ul-Mujahideen militant outfit, while claiming responsibility for the attack, said their men reached back to their safe destinations after the incident. Local news agency CNS quoted the spokesperson of the outfit who warned that such attacks would be intensified in the coming days.

In a series of attacks launched by militants this week in Pulwama district, six people, including five security personnel and a civilian, have been killed while 13 others have sustained injuries.

There have been five militant attacks in six days in various parts of the district which have put security agencies on heightened alert. On August 11, militants attacked a BSF convoy at Pampore, injuring eight personnel. The next day, militants shot dead a constable of the Railway Protection Force.