Srinagar: Shootout amid peace initiative, one policeman dead

Srinagar: A police official has been killed in a shootout between militants and the police in downtown Srinagar.

Sukhpal Singh, an assistant sub-inspector of police, died of bullet wounds shortly after he was rushed to the hospital in a critical condition.

The militants struck on a day when the government is removing a main CRPF bunker at the sensitive Lal Chowk in Srinagar to send out a message of normalcy returning to the Valley. Forty such pickets have been removed in the last one year as part of the state government's peace efforts.