Indian policeman killed, 4 injured in militant attack in Kashmir
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An Indian policeman was killed and four civilians, including a cameraman of a New Delhi-based news channel, injured Wednesday, when fidayeen (suicide attackers) hurled grenades and fired on paramilitary trooper bunker in Srinagar, police said.
The attack was carried around 01:45 p.m. local time in the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar, the summer capital of India-controlled Kashmir, police and eye witnesses said.
"The attackers first hurled grenades and then resorted to firing killing a local policeman and injuring four civilians. They are certainly the fidayeen because they have entered a hotel and are firing upon the paramilitary troopers and policemen. The firing is going on," said Prabhakar Triphati, spokesman of India' s paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) in Srinagar.
The injured have been rushed to hospital and police and paramilitary troopers have cordoned the hotel where militants are believed to be holed up. Firing is going on from both sides.
"One or two militants are believed to be holed up inside the hotel and firing intermittently on the paramilitary troopers," said Triphati.
Soon after the attack, the people rushed to safer places and shopkeepers pulled down the shutters of the shops.
Reinforcements of police and paramilitary troopers were brought to neutralize the militants.
Last week four soldiers were killed when militants ambushed paramilitary troopers in Sopore area, 54 km northwest of Srinagar.
Militants occasionally target police and paramilitary troopers in the region, that otherwise witness gunfight intermittently.
Police last month stated that 2009 was the least violent year in the two decades of armed insurgency in the region.
