Gunmen believed to be Kashmiri separatist militants barged into a Srinagar hotel and opened “indiscriminate” fire killing a bellboy and wounding two other employees on Friday afternoon, police said adding security forces have launched an operation to track down the assailants.
DIG Srinagar-Budgam range Afadul Mujtaba told reporters at the scene of the shooting that three militants struck at “Silver Star”, a large mid-range hotel along the bypass road near Nowgam railway station killing Farooq Ahmed Lone, the bellboy, and wounding two other hotel employees Anees and Bilal. “Why they did that is being investigated,” the officer said.
A handout issued by the police later said that initial investigations into the shooting incident have “shown that the militants had planned an attempt of attack on Army vehicles which were passing by.” It added, “They did not succeed and thus tried to enter a nearby hotel at 4.30 pm which they could not and fired indiscriminately killing one employee of the hotel and injuring two others.” The injured were being operated upon in a Srinagar hospital, latest reports said.
This was first such attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital Srinagar since May this year for which no militant outfit has owned responsibility so far. The attack took place on a day when “Core Group” of various security forces including Army held a meeting at nearby headquarters of Army’s Srinagar-based 15 (Chinar) Corp to review the overall security situation in the Valley. The meeting was co-chaired by GOC Chinar Corps Lt. Gen. Om Prakash who is also the security advisor to the state government and the director general of J&K Police Ashok Prasad whereas senior officers of Army, police, CRPF, BSF, Intelligence agencies and civil administration were also present.
“This was the last Core Group meeting of the year, before the move of Darbar (shifting of the civil government) from summer capital Srinagar to winter capital Jammu,” a defence spokesperson said.
He said Lt. Gen. Prakash complimented the officials for the “high level of synergy exhibited by all stake holders in addressing the security concerns of the Valley and implored that the bonhomie achieved between various security forces at operational as well as functional level be maintained.”