On Wednesday, July 1, one police official and a civilian were killed and several other security personnel were injured after an encounter with terrorists in North Kashmir's Sopore area.
Reportedly, the terrorists had fired at the CRPF party, following which there was an exchange of fire. CRPF officials say that the terrorists had been hiding in the attic of a nearby mosque.
As per an earlier tweet by the Kashmir police, the area had been condoned off as a search was initiated to catch the terrorists.
In another tweet, the Kashmir police had noted that officials had rescued a three-year-old boy from getting hit by bullets amid the terror attack in Sopore.
Earlier in the day, a heartbreaking photo had emerged showing a young boy sitting on his grandfather's body. As per an India Today report, the 60-year-old man was the civilian who had been killed in the cross-firing on Wednesday morning.
There has been some controversy over the incident, with a a close relative of the deceased claiming in a now viral video that the man in question had been killed by the CRPF personnel. He alleged that the deceased had been going for some work in Sopore early in the morning , and that the CRPF officials had started firing there and killed him.
The CRPF however denies this. As per the security personnel, the civilian vehicle had come in the range of terrorist fire, following which the deceased had exited his vehicle and tried to take cover.
"But, the terrorists who were in front of him fired at security forces and the deceased was caught in the firing of terrorists," an official said.
The child, officials said had sat on his body later, and was then rescued by security forces. "In a picture also, it is evident that the security force personnel signalling the child to come close to him and the jawan has faced his weapon in front as the fire was coming from the mosque," an official said.
The speculation however has continued to persist, with many citing the video of the relative of the deceased, and associated news reports that had covered it. Since then, the Sopore Police had, via its Twitter handle, reiterated that this was a "baseless" false allegation.
"The news surfaced on some social networking sites that the civilian was brought down and killed is totally baseless and is far beyond the facts, Sopore Police refutes and denies the news and legal action shall be initiated against the false reports and rumours (sic)," the Police handle tweeted.
(With inputs from agencies)
