Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, Vijay Kumar said that Lashkar-e-Taiba militants who were hiding in a mosque carried out an attack at a paramilitary party in Sopore town that led to the death of a CRPF trooper and a civilian while a minor boy was rescued.
He said there was no retaliation from the security forces and it was later found that militants had left behind one full magazine and another one from which 30 bullets were used in the premises of a local mosque.
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“The attack was carried out by two Lashkar-e-Taiba militants that include a foreign militant Usmban Bhai and a local militant Adil. They fired 30 bullets as evident from the magazine recovered from the mosque premises. Another magazine was also recovered which was full,” Kumar said in a hurriedly called presser, here.
He said policemen rescued a three-year-old boy who was accompanying his grandfather. “We have observed that wherever civilian movement is more, militants carry out attacks to trigger law and order issues and to trigger disturbances,” the IGP said.
On allegations of the family of the slain civilian that he was killed by CRPF men, he said, “The video message circulated on social media by the son and daughter of the slain man is totally baseless. They have leveled allegations under militant threat.”
“I want to ask them whether they were present at the site of the incident. Did they see themselves who fired?” Kumar asked.
He said if there is any eye-witness, let them come forward, “we will accordingly act.” “There was no retaliation at all from the security forces side. The search in the area is on to nab the attackers. We have not called off the search operation,” the IGP said.
When asked how the pictures of the boy being “rescued by the police went viral” when there was no public movement at the time of the incident, he said police rescued the boy who was nearby the body of his grandfather.
“Going to the operation area with mobiles is wrong. I will ensure police teams going for the operation don't carry mobiles along as that may pose threat to their lives. In 2018, many security forces personnel got killed while using their mobiles during duty hours, in standoff attacks,” Kumar added.