3 CRPF Personnel Injured In Kulgam Attack; Defence Expert Calls It 'Shoot-And-Scoot' Strike

Defence expert Hemant Mahajan on Wednesday described the attack on three CRPF personnel in Jammu and Kashmir's Kulgam district as a 'shoot-and-scoot' operation, saying such surprise attacks may continue intermittently as the fight against Pakistan-backed terrorism remains a long-term challenge.

Speaking to news agency ANI, Mahajan said the attackers arrived in a vehicle, opened fire on CRPF personnel deployed at a security picket and fled after injuring three jawans.

"This terror attack, which took place in Kulgam on a CRPF picket, was a shoot-and-scoot kind of an attack. In the sense that the terrorists came in some kind of a vehicle, fired, injured CRPF jawans, and thereafter disappeared," he said.

Attackers will be tracked

Mahajan expressed confidence that the attackers would be tracked down and killed within the next one to two weeks. He added that the assailants would have been eliminated had they stayed at the spot instead of fleeing after the firing.

3 CRPF personnel injured in Kulgam

The attack took place at around 2:15 pm when unidentified motorcycle-borne assailants opened fire on CRPF personnel deployed at a naka in Kulgam before escaping. The injured jawans, identified as HC/GD Somveer, CT/GD Santano and CT/GD Rakesh Das, sustained bullet wounds and were shifted to Government Medical College (GMC) for treatment. A massive search operation has been launched to trace the attackers.

Warning over recurring surprise attacks

Mahajan cautioned that such surprise attacks, intended to create an impression that normalcy has not returned to the region, could occur from time to time.

"It is a long haul as far as fighting terrorism backed by Pakistan is concerned. We have to be ready for it, and we have to be prepared," he said.