Indian-administered Kashmir: Gunmen dressed as cricketers kill five police officers

Militants from Hizbul Mujahideen group open fire on playing field in Srinagar.

SRINAGAR/ ISLAMABAD:

Militants disguised as cricketers killed five paramilitary police in an ambush in the main city of Indian-administered Kashmir on Wednesday, officials said.

In the deadliest attack for nearly five years, two gunmen from Hizbul Mujahideen, which claimed responsibility, were shot dead after the assault on a police compound housing a barracks, a school and a playing field in the Bemina district of Srinagar.

A senior police officer said the attackers pretended to be joining children for a game of cricket before taking out automatic weapons from a bag and lobbing a grenade.

Four civilians and four Central Reserve Police Force soldiers were also injured, said a police statement.

The Kashmir News Network reported receiving a call from a Hizbul Mujahideen spokesman who claimed the ‘guerilla attack’. Indian Home Secretary RK Singh told reporters that the dead gunmen appeared “not local but from across the border” in Pakistan and added two other militants who were not involved in the attack might still be at large in Srinagar.

Foreign Office reaction

The Foreign Office vehemently rejected Singh’s claims that the gunmen were from Pakistan, warning that finger-pointing had the potential to undermine efforts aimed at normalising ties between the neighbours.

“We feel that this trend of making irresponsible statements and knee-jerk reactions by senior Indian government functionaries have the potential of undermining the efforts made by both sides to normalise relation between the two countries,” a statement issued by FO spokesperson Moazzam Ali Khan said.

“Pakistan, which is itself a victim of terrorism and has rendered immense sacrifices in its efforts against this menace, condemns such actions of terrorism in the strongest possible terms,” Khan stressed.

He urged India to carry out a thorough investigation into the incident before leveling such accusations.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 14^th, 2013.