SRINAGAR, 29 November 2004 — In the worst incident of its kind in 15 years, an angry Indian paramilitary soldier gunned down seven of his colleagues and injured two others critically in north Kashmir’s Baramulla town, 54 km from here, around midnight.

Panic and confusion kept the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) guards from reacting immediately. Samrendra Dheka, the trooper who went berserk, was finally gunned down by other soldiers who took positions inside the camp and returned fire.

Police here said Dheka of 152 battalion of the CRPF posted inside the company headquarters at Baramulla went on the shooting spree around midnight. Before guards could respond, he had gunned down seven of his colleagues including the commander of the company who was of the rank of inspector and a sub-inspector. The soldier sprayed his colleagues with bullets from his automatic rifle. “We will never know the details as the witnesses who could have provided us vital information are no more,” CRPF Inspector Gen. Ranjeet Sinha told Arab News.

The two injured CRPF soldiers were brought to Srinagar and are undergoing treatment in Soura medical institute. Their condition was described as very critical.

Constable Dheka, a resident of Kamrup in Assam, has been in the force for only a year and on Saturday night he turned up for the night call in time, according to a senior CRPF office in Baramulla.

CRPF sources said the indiscriminate shooting led to heavy panic. They said senior police and CRPF officers visited the camp early yesterday to take stock of the situation.

An internal inquiry is being carried out to ascertain the reasons for the trooper’s apparently inexplicable behavior.

Soldiers, often under stress through working away from their homes for months without break, have been involved in similar incidents, most of which are sparked by denial of leave. Psychologists and counselors have been employed by various units of army and paramilitary to sort out the problems of tension and trauma among troopers.

Many a soldier have shot dead their commanding officers on refusal of leave or in other knee-jerk responses to calls of duties, but an incident like yesterday’s has come as a major challenge to law enforcement agencies in Kashmir who have been claiming to have made their soldiers people-friendly.

Meanwhile, rebels shot dead three of their former colleagues and a civilian in separate attacks in the troubled region, a police spokesman said.

Mohammed Abbas, former commander for pro-India militant group Ikhwan was dragged out of his house by unidentified militants and shot dead in southern Anantnag district yesterday, he said.

Abbas several few years ago had offered the Ikhwan’s support to Indian troops.

Militants shot dead two other former colleagues in the districts of Budgam and Baramulla late Saturday and yesterday, he said, adding a civilian was slain in Anantnag. Kashmir is in the grip of a 15-year-old insurgency that has so far left 40,000 people dead by official count. Separatists opposed to Indian rule in the region put the toll between 80,000 and 100,000.