RPF head constable killed, sub-inspector critically injured in Pulwama militant attack

Militants fired at two RPF personnel when they had gone to a tea stall outside the Kakapora railway station, police sources said. Both were critically injured in the attack and were shifted to a hospital, where one of them was declared “brought dead”. The injured official has been shifted to Srinagar.

“Terrorists fired upon RPF personnel at Kakapora Pulwama. In this terror inident [sic], two RPF personnel sustained injuries and were evacuated to hospital where one RPF personnel succumbed and attained martyrdom. Area cordoned off,” the Jammu and Kashmir police tweeted.

The slain RPF head constable was identified as Surinder Singh and the injured sub-inspector as Dev Raj. Hospital sources say that Raj’s condition remained critical.

Immediately after the attack, the police, Army and paramilitary forces cordoned off the area and started searching for the militants responsible for the attack. However, no arrests were made.

The Valley, especially south Kashmir, has seen a spurt in militant attacks in recent days. In the past one month, militants carried out a series of attacks on non-local workers in Pulwama, injuring seven migrant workers.

On April 17, a soldier was killed in a brief gunfight at Kokernag in Anantnag district.

And militants carried out a shoot-and-run attack on the Central Reserve Police Force in Srinagar earlier this month, killing a member of paramilitary force and wounding another.