India / CRPF to send 5 additional companies to J&K amid civilian killings

Srinagar: The paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) on Tuesday said it will send five more companies to Jammu and Kashmir following a spate of targeted civilian killings in the union territory. The CRPF said it had earlier sent 25 companies to Jammu and Kashmir.

“The CRPF is sending five additional companies to J&K in the wake of recent civilian killings in the Union Territory. These companies will be deployed there within a week. The force earlier sent 25 companies in J&K,” the CRPF stated.

The announcement came a day after a salesman was shot dead by terrorists in Srinagar.

In another targeted attack on Sunday, constable Tawseef Ahmad Wani was killed by terrorists in Srinagar’s Batamaloo area.

Salesman Ibrahim Khan, who hailed from Bandipore district, was employed with a Kashmiri Pandit businessman Roshan Lal Mawa, whose business is located in the old city of the Valley.

Notably, constable Wani was killed by terrorists just weeks after his family was visited by Union Home Minister Amit Shah last month, reported Hindustan Times.

Over the past few weeks, as many as 11 civilians, mostly non-locals, have been targeted by terrorists in Jammu and Kashmir.

The CRPF, meanwhile, today said that 112 terrorists in total have been killed in Jammu and Kashmir so far this year. Also, 135 ultras have been apprehended and two surrendered during the same period.

The paramilitary force also gave an update with regard to the operations against Maoists. It said that a total of 13 Naxals have been killed so far this year. During the same period, 603 other Maoists were apprehended while 486 surrendered in Left Wing Extremism (LWE) or Naxal-affected areas.