3 CRPF personnel martyred in terrorist attack in J&K's Handwara

The attack on the CRPF patrol party in Qaziabad area comes barely two days after the Handwara encounter in which five Army personnel laid their lives.

Jammu: In an unfortunate incident, three CRPF personnel were martyred in a terrorist attack in Kupwara district of Jammu and Kashmir on Monday (May 4). According to reports, terrorists opened fire on a CRPF patrol party near Qaziabad area of Handwara. The area was cordoned off following the attack on the forces and an additional reinforcement has been rushed to the spot to track down the terrorists.

An unidentified body has also been recovered from the spot. According to ANI, a terrorist was also killed in the retaliatory firing; however, an official confirmation on the same from CRPF remains awaited.

According to CRPF officials, at around 5:30 pm today, terrorists opened fire on 92 Batallion CRPF at Wangam-Qaziabad in Kralgund area. While two CRPF jawans were killed on the spot, one succumbed to his injuries while he was being rushed to a hospital. 

According to officials, paramilitary troopers retaliated immediately leading to an exchange of firing between two sides for several minutes.

The attack on the CRPF patrol party in Qazibad area comes barely two days after the Handwara encounter in which five Army personnel and two terrorists were killed during an encounter. The incident took place on May 2. 

According to an army official, a few terrorists had taken some civilians as hostage inside a house in Changimulla at Handwara of Kupwara district. Upon receiving a tip-off, a joint operation was launched by the Army and the Jammu and Kashmir Police. A team comprising of five Army and police personnel entered the target area occupied by the terrorists to evacuate the civilians and successfully extricated them, he said said.

However, during the process, the team came under a heavy volume of fire by the terrorists and in the ensuing firefight, two terrorists were eliminated and the five Army personnel and a policeman were killed in the line of duty, the army said.