Amaq, an online propaganda portal linked to the Islamic State (IS), on July 13 released a purported video online where an attacker aims at policemen from a close range apparently in Srinagar’s Lal Bazaar area. A militant attack left one police officer dead and two others injured on Tuesday (July 12) evening.
The Islamic State after Abu Ibrahim al-Hashimi al-Qurayshi
The 40-second video showed the attacker, filming with a body camera and carrying a pistol, coming close to a stationed police vehicle and opening fire from close range in Srinagar’s Lal Bazaar. The attacker first showers bullets at a policeman and later opens indiscriminate fire on the vehicle from the sides. He changes the magazine and fires upon another policeman under a Chinar tree. In between, several gunshots from an automatic rifle could also be heard in the video.
In the video, the attacker raises slogans such as ‘Allah-o-Akbar’ and ‘Lailaha-ilalaah’ while he opens fire on the policemen. The video claimed that the attack filmed on camera was the same that took place around 7 p.m. near G.D Goenka Public School in the Lal Bazaar area of Srinagar. One Assistant Sub-Inspector Mushtaq Ahmad was killed in the attack.
Inspector General of Police Vijay Kumar told The Hindu that the police were scanning all CCTV footage and taking assistance from locals. “We will identify the attackers shortly. An appropriate action would be taken against both terrorists and other supporters of this module,” Mr. Kumar said.
Both The Resistance Front (TRF) and the Islamic State J&K have claimed responsibility for the attack, releasing posters on social media platforms.
“Just after LeT’s (Lashkar-e-Taiba) TRF claimed the terror incident, the LeT(TRF), now ISJK (Sawt-Al-Hindu) has not only claimed but also threatened LeT (TRF). For us, terrorists are terrorists and will neutralise them at the earliest,” Mr. Kumar said.
The police have said top officers “continued to work to establish the full circumstances of the terror crime”. Preliminary reports have suggested that the attackers arrived on a two-wheeler.
Infiltration bid foiled
The Army on Wednesday said a major infiltration bid was foiled in the Pir Panjal valley’s Poonch district in the Jammu province. However, the number of casualties inflicted on the infiltrators was being ascertained. “During the midnight hours, there was an infiltration attempt along LoC (Line of Control) in the Poonch sector. The attempt was suitably foiled by the alert troops,” the Army said.
An operation has been launched to track infiltrators, and the entire area cordoned off.
