Srinagar/Islamabad: Rebels Wednesday struck in the high security city center Lal Chowk, a busy commercial area in the heart of Srinagar, killing a policeman and wounding eight civilians.
The surprise attack began with Central Reserve Police Force camp in Lal Chowk being attacked by two suicide attackers with grenades and gunfire and subsequently turning into a standoff as the two rebels forced their entry into a nearby hotel building.
Authorities immediately moved in heavy police and paramilitary reinforcements to lay a siege around the hotel building located in the main business center of capital city.
The authorities had a difficult time in evacuating the injured persons and the civilians in the highly congested commercial center which is filled by thousands of people all day.
As the gunfire rattled the area, triggering panic and tension, the people thronging the business hub ran for cover and those who got trapped had to be evacuated by the police. The area soon got emptied of the people leaving the militants and security forces in a confrontation situation.
Over the border in Pakistan, a suicide bomber on foot detonated his explosives Wednesday morning at the entrance of an army barracks in the remote T’rar Khal area near Rawalkot, one of the main towns located close to the cease-fire line.
Three soldiers died at the scene and another died in hospital of his injuries, according to police chief Javed Iqbal. A dozen more were injured, five of them seriously, prompting one local official to fear a higher final death toll.
No group claimed responsibility for the attack.
— With input from agencies
