Ultras attack Civil Sectt
3 employees killed
Tribune News Service

SRINAGAR, Oct 28 — The militants struck in a big way firing a series of grenades at the Civil Secretariat here this afternoon, killing three employees and injuring eight.

When rifle grenades were fired in the premises of the Civil Secretariat at 1.20 p.m., the employees were busy packing up office records for the biannual shift to Jammu, the winter capital of the state.

Eyewitnesses said the grenades landed with a deafening sound and created a panic among the employees. The explosions rattled the windows of offices.

The SSP, Srinagar, after visiting the spot said at least 11 persons including a traffic policeman and a jawan were killed. Official vehicles parked outside the main gate of the secretariat were damaged. Those injured are being treated at the SMHS and the Bone and Joints Hospital.

An employee of the Education Department, identified as Mr Abdul Salam, died on the spot. Two more succumbed to their injuries in the Police Hospital. They have been identified as Mr Riyaz Ahmad of the Forest Department and Mr Ghulam Nabi of the Planning Department. The latter was the president of Lower Grade Employees Federation (LGEF).

The police here on Friday last had produced before mediapersons four militants of Harkat-ul-Mujahideen involved in the attack on September 29. At least one policeman was killed and several injured in the attack. The militants were identified as Ishfaq Ahmad Beigh, Merajuddin, alias Tanveer, Farooq Ahmad Dhobi, alias Mujeeb, and Shakeel Ahmad Gandroo, all local militants.

Elsewhere, at least six persons, including a block president of the BJP, was killed and 12 were injured in Jammu and Kashmir.

Two foreign militants, Abdul Wahid and Ghulam Ahmad Wazir, both residents of Muzaffarabad (PoK), were killed in an encounter with the security forces at Harduna Wilgam in Kupwara district. A foreign militant, whose identity was yet to be ascertained, was killed in an encounter with the security forces at Dudhi, Chowkibal, in Kupwara district.

A militant and a jawan of the security forces were killed in an encounter at Duligam, Banihal. The police said the security forces were fired upon by militants during a search operation launched in the locality, killing a jawan. The security forces retaliated, killing one militant. Hafeeza Begum was injured in the exchange of fire.

Unidentified militants shot dead Bashir Ahmad Dar in Haloora village in Budgam district last evening.

Eight pedestrians and a security jawan were injured when militants hurled a grenade on a security picket near Hanuman Mandir here this afternoon. Two jawans were injured.

JAMMU: A series of grenade blasts outside the Civil Secretariat in Srinagar has hardly come as a surprise to the police and the security agencies.

Four militants involved in the grenade attack on the secretariat on September 29 had told the police, during interrogation that two more rebel groups were operating in the summer capital with the aim to blow up vital government installations.

The four militants, all of them Kashmiris in their teens, had told the police that three groups of militants had been assigned the task of blowing up important government buildings the Civil Secretariat was on the top of the list.

They had also confessed that each group was functioning independent of the other and "we do not have any knowledge of activists of the two other groups and their hideouts".

Informed sources said the strength of the two groups was not more than 10 but they had logistic support from gun-wielding youths.

As on September 29, the militants today fired grenades from grenade launchers, allowing no chance for the security personnel to hit back.

Those who treat today’s incident as a major security failure argue that since the police and other government agencies had reports that groups of militants were planning to attack the Civil Secretariat, the measures needed to foil any such plan were missing.

Not a single grenade hit the secretariat building when the range of the grenade launcher is about 200 metres. Suitable steps could have been taken to intercept or shoot at the speeding car from which the grenades were fired.

The same car is said to have been used by the militants while carrying out two grenade attacks on a security picket outside Hanuman Temple which is less than 700 metres from the secretariat building.

Experts say men of the Special Operations Group (SOG) have become lax following the transfer of their head, Mr P.S. Gill, Inspector-General of Police. Under Mr Gill, the SOG had kept the militants on tenterhooks.

According to sources, agencies across the border have formed different groups for carrying out different operations. Three groups of militants have been assigned the task of attacking security pickets and vital installations in Srinagar city so as to remove the impression that the situation has registered improvement and the summer capital is a safe place for tourists. Other groups have been given the task of eliminating political activists in rural areas and blowing up security convoys and bridges.

The three groups with the task of attacking vital installations in Srinagar are said to comprise men highly trained and dedicated.