J&K’s night of terror at CRPF camp leaves 9 dead

The police recovered an ID card from his body that identified him as Anayatullah Khan of Bandipore. ‘‘We still don’t believe he is a local. We are investigating,’’ a senior police officer said.

Uptown Srinagar resonated with gunshots and for the first time in years, panicked security forces issued shoot-at-sight orders in adjoining neighbourhoods. Hundreds of security force personnel cordoned off the entire area, called armoured vehicles and waited till dawn to evacuate the survivors, who had been hiding in a room on the top floor. Only a few had escaped unhurt.

When the forces, convinced that the militant was dead, entered the three-story concrete building housing the camp, they found bodies scattered everywhere. The floor of the hall was awash with blood and the walls pockmarked with bullet holes.

‘‘We were in the recreation room watching television. There was a big blast outside. We thought militants had thrown a grenade and everybody ran out to check,’’ said Shashi Nayak, a survivor. ‘‘He (the militant) had already opened the front door and was shooting at everybody.’’ He said two jawans who were walking ahead of him were hit. ‘‘They came between him (the militant) and me. I fell down and escaped (the bullets),’’ he said.

Another jawan said that he lay down feigning death. ‘‘I saw OS sahib (the Assistant Commandant) comming out of his room with an AK. He tried to take position but was hit. He died in front of me,’’ he said. ‘‘I don’t know when the militant was killed. But as soon as there was a brief pause in the firing, I ran up the stairs. There were few more survivors and we locked ourselves inside a room.’’

The survivors said two among the dead had come from an adjoining post to stay for the night, ready to take the morning bus home for holiday.

There were rotis piled on a window sill, a glass half filled with blood in the wash basin, bullet-riddled suitcased and a single sandal in a corner soaked in blood.

Fire-fighters took almost two hours to wash the rooms. There was hardly anything left in the Company’s armoury and a bomb disposal squad defused the six live grenades still tied to the militant’s body.

Director General of J-K Police, who visited the site, said that there were a few ‘fidayeen’ modules active in the city but played down the attack. ‘‘There is always a spurt in militants attacks before August 15 (Independence Day),’’ he said. Inspector General of CRPF, S S Rawat, who had called a press briefing just hours before the attack saying that his force had devised new tactics to prevent suicide-squad strikes, was in a shock. ‘‘Such incidents are part of our lives,’’ he said.

Fear has, however, returned to uptown Srinagar, which was buzzing with tourists till late at night. ‘‘Militants have proved they can strike anytime, anywhere,’’ said Irfan Ahmad, who hid the whole night in the bathroom. ‘‘The gunfire was so loud and intense, I felt the walls of the house will come down collapsing,’’ he said.