Five CRPF personnel were killed and three injured in a pre-dawn attack

Search operation in and around the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) training centre in Lethapora has resumed after being halted for the night. The operation is being carried out in the main building area of the centre with security personnel combing through buildings one by one. Five CRPF personnel were killed and three injured in a pre-dawn attack by suspected Jaish-e-Mohammad (JeM) militants on the camp on Sunday.

Meanwhile, Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Monday condemned the deadly attack and said, “It was a cowardly attack by terrorists. We are proud of our brave jawans, their sacrifice won’t go in vain. The entire nation stands with their families.”

The attack is being suspected as a retaliatory strike against the recent killing of Jaish’s Noor Mohammad Tantray. According to reports, two-four heavily armed militants stormed the centre at 2:10 am. “It is a big camp. It was at 2.10 am… The militants first fired at a patrol vehicle and then sneaked inside the camp,” said CRPF Public Relations Officer (PRO) Rajesh Yadav.

The militants targeted the main building area of the camp that houses family quarters, hospitals and signal centre. About two dozen CRPF personnel were inside the main building area when the attack took place. The slain CRPF personnel have been identified as Inspector Kuldeep Roy, Head Constable Tufail Ahmad, and Constables Sharifuddin Ganai, Rajender Jain and Pradeep Kumar Panda. Ganai is a resident of Chadoora in Budgam district. Yadav said one of the CRPF personnel “collapsed during the evacuation process”. “We are waiting for the post-mortem report,” he added.