Militants attack patrol set up to protect Sikhs

Srinagar, Feb 6: Two days after the gunning down of six Sikhs here, militants attacked a police picket set up for protection of the minori...

Srinagar, Feb 6: Two days after the gunning down of six Sikhs here, militants attacked a police picket set up for protection of the minority community in Sikh-dominated Chattisinghpora in Anantnag district last night.

Militants fired at police guards posted at Chattisinghpora village, scene of last year’s massacre of 35 Sikhs by militants. The policemen, deployed for protection of minorities, returned the fire forcing the militants to flee, a spokesman said.

He said a hunt was on to track down the attackers. The incident caused panic among the villagers.

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Soon after the shootout, the spokesman said some militants tried to force their way into the house of National Conference block president Ghulam Mohiuddin at Achabal in Anantnag.

Policemen deployed there fired in the air in order to scare them.

On Saturday, six Sikhs were killed when unidentifiedarmed youths fired indiscriminately on a group of minority community at Mahjoornagar.

Meanwhile in Srinagar, curfew was relaxed today for two hours in major parts of the civil lines area of Srinagar for the first time after it was enforced on Sunday.

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The curfew was relaxed from 1 pm to 3 pm and the relaxation period would be extended further if there was no law and order problem, an official spokesman said here. The people in the curfew-bound areas falling under Sadder, Shergari, Maisuma and Rajbagh police stations thronged shops to get essentials in the relaxation period, the sources said.

There was no report of any untoward incident from any part of the Civil Lines area, the sources said adding police and paramilitary forces were deployed in full strength.

State and Central Government employees working in essential services departments including water works and electricity were today allowed to attend duty.