Another militant attack in Kashmir's Sopore

Sopore: A daring attack by militants. Twice in the same hour, they attacked the Sopore police station in Baramulla district with grenades and gunfire. A policeman and a civilian were killed; four policemen were injured.  

At 10.25 am on Friday, militants hurled a grenade at the police station. The grenade exploded outside the main gate. An hour later, the militants opened fire on the police station and the policemen guarding the complex retaliated. The exchange of fire continued for nearly 30 minutes.

No militant outfit has so far claimed responsibility for the incidents.

Police sources say the militants wanted to storm the police station, but were stopped.  However, except for one who was killed, the terrorists managed to escape.  

A massive search has been launched for the militants, but police sources admit the leads they have are growing cold.

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"Militancy incidents have reduced compared to last year. In such incidents, sometimes we have an upper hand, and sometimes they come and attack. These things keep going on," says A. Q. Manhas, Deputy Inspector General, North Kashmir.

This is the second major militant attack in Sopore in just over a fortnight. On December 31, militants killed four security officers and escaped with their weapons.

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The police may wants to downplay the violence, considering Jammu and Kashmir is watching security forces being pulled out from civilian areas. But the last three weeks have seen at least a dozen big militant attacks in which police, security men and civilians have died, testing a fragile peace.