Srinagar/ Jammu: Three BSF troopers were killed and 10 other persons, among them civilians, were injured – three critically – on Friday in a Hizb-ul-Mujhadeen attack on a security forces convoy in south Kashmir’s Bijbehara town, police sources said.
A police official here in Srinagar told IANS that “a BSF convoy coming from Jammu to Srinagar was ambushed by militants on the highway in Bijbehara town of Anantnag district”.
Militant outfit Hizb-ul-Mujhadeen claimed the responsibility of the attack. Its operational spokesperson Burhanuddin told a local news agency that “several Indian troopers were killed in the attack carried out by a special squad of the outfit”.
“Besides the death of these troopers, many more were critically injured,” he said, vowing “the attacks on the security establishments will continue”.
Chief Minister Mehbooba Mufti strongly condemned the militant attack in her home town.
Immediately after the attack, she spoke to Director General of the Border Security Force (BSF) K.K. Sharma and expressed anguish and sorrow over the death of three personnel in the attack.
Following the attack, heavy exchange of fire took place in the town situated on the 300-km Jammu-Srinagar National Highway No.1A, according to eyewitnesses.
The injured BSF troopers were shifted to a Srinagar hospital, the police sources added. (IANS)