Kashmir attack: Two security men killed in IOK ambush

Dead included paramilitary officer and a policeman who died in hospital

SRINAGAR: Gunmen on Friday ambushed a convoy carrying paramilitary forces in Indian Occupied Kashmir, killing two security officers and wounding seven others.

The militants escaped after carrying out the attack on the outskirts of Srinagar, a senior police officer told Reuters. Security forces were searching for the gunmen, he said, asking not to be named because he is not authorised to speak to the media.

The dead included a paramilitary officer and a policeman who died in hospital.

New Delhi claimed in late September that its troops had crossed into Pakistan’s side of Kashmir and launched retaliatory ‘surgical strikes’ to kill suspected militants, an operation Pakistan says never took place.

Nuclear-armed neighbours India and Pakistan have been at odds over Kashmir ever since their independence nearly 70 years ago, fighting two of their three wars over the region that they each rule in part but claim in full.

On Wednesday, gunmen shot dead a political party worker in the IOK, hours after two suspected militants were killed by armed forces following a 56-hour operation on the edge of Srinagar.

The attacks on Indian security targets come amid three months of protests, spearheaded by local youth in the region, that erupted after Indian forces killed a Kashmiri separatist leader in early July.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 15^th, 2016.