Attack on convoy: Separatist militants kill eight policemen in Indian Kashmir

CPRF personnel kill both attackers; Lashkar-e-Taiba claims responsibility

SRINAGAR: Separatist militants killed at least eight Indian police officials and injured 20 when they attacked a security convoy in Indian Kashmir on Saturday, a police spokesman said.

Two men attacked a convoy of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on a highway near the Pampore town, 15 kilometres from Srinagar. The militants were killed by CRPF officials who were guarding the highway, police spokesman Bhavesh Kumar Choudhary said.

Dr Abdullah Gaznavi, a spokesman for Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), told Reuters by phone that the attack was carried out by members of the group's suicide squad. Gaznavi claimed 13 CRPF police officials were killed in the fighting that lasted for an hour.

Mehbooba Mufti, the chief minister of Indian Kashmir, condemned Saturday's attack. "The only purpose of such blood-spattered acts of violence is to add to the tragedies and miseries of the people," she said in a statement.

Violence in Indian Kashmir has spiked against a backdrop of rising social tension and separatist sentiment in the region. In May, militants shot dead three Indian policemen at point-blank range. In February, militants attacked a bus carrying police reservists near Srinagar, before breaking into a training institute.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 26^th, 2016.