Srinagar: Alert troopers of the paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) have foiled a probable militant attack in Srinagar.
Senior CRPF officers informed the media that there was a plan to blow up the crucial Sangam Bridge that connects the state to the rest of the country.
They said CRPF personnel spotted a wet cloth on the railing of the bridge. They also spotted a boy with a sack, but he ran away before he could be questioned.
BN Ramesh, CRPF Inspector General of Operations said that the bridge is used to transport supplies to the Indian Army stationed in the valley, and hence, was probably being targeted ahead of India’s 65th Independence Day celebrations.
He further said that as per the information received through intelligence sources, a group of trained militants have arrived in the valley to target key areas and disrupt peace.
Kashmir has been at the core of dispute between India and Pakistan over the past six decades with the nuclear-armed neighbours having fought two of their three wars since 1947 over the disputed territory, which is claimed by both in full but ruled in parts.
Nearly 50,000 people have been killed in Indian Kashmir since the start of an insurgency in the late 1980s that India says is sponsored by Pakistan. More than half a million security personnel are deployed in Kashmir.
ANI
