Police walk past the site of an attack by suspected militants that left two policemen dead in the high security area of Srinagar yesterday.
Agencies/Srinagar
Two policemen were shot dead yesterday by suspected militants in a high security area of Srinagar, the summer capital of Jammu and Kashmir, police said.
The policemen were shot from point blank range when they were on a regular patrol near the main court complex located in a busy commercial district of Srinagar, a senior police official said.
“Both the policemen died at the spot. We don’t know as yet who carried out the attack,” city police chief Ashiq Bukhari said.
“The constables were shot in the Hari Singh High Street market. A girl was wounded in the attack,” he said.
Security forces immediately cordoned off the busy market area and launched a search for the militants.
The attack took place despite a high security alert in the city ahead of Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s two-day visit scheduled to begin on Tuesday. Sonia Gandhi, chairwoman of the ruling United Progressive Alliance is expected to accompany Singh.
Rebels opposed to Indian rule of the state have been mounting shoot-and-run attacks on security personnel at regular intervals in recent times.
In April, armed militants attacked a police patrol near the northern Kashmir town of Sopore, killing four.
In other developments, police used batons and water canons to disperse protesting government employees to stop them from marching to Raj Bhawan, the governor’s palace.
Scores of state government employees were demanding regularisation of daily wage and ad hoc employees, removal of pay anomalies and enhancement of the retirement age from 58 years to 60 years to bring it at par with that of central government employees.