Four troopers of the Central Reserve Police Force were seriously injured in a powerful blast in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Thursday afternoon. Militants hurled a grenade at the battalion headquarters of the CRPF, located in a hotel building near the main bus stand, said a spokesperson of the police.
Police intensified the crackdown on the terror ecosystem in Kashmir, carrying out raids at more than 300 locations linked to persons affiliated with the banned Jamaat-e-Islami (JeI) in the valley.
Candlelight marches were held at several places in Kashmir to condemn the Pahalgam terror attack in which 26 people, mostly tourists, were killed. The protests were held in Pahalgam, Srinagar, Sopore, Ganderbal, Handwara, Kupwara, Baramulla, and Bandipora, officials said. The protestors said the marches were to express solidarity with the victims of the attack and send a message of unity.
The bullet-riddled bodies of the cops were seen lying inside a police van near the Kali Mata temple in Rehembal area of Udhampur around 6.30 am, the officials said.
One militant was killed and an army trooper injured in an encounter in Krankshivan locality in north Kashmir's Sopore town.Acting on a specific tip-off about the presence of militants, a house in the locality was surrounded by troops of Rashtriya Rifles and the police on Friday morning, said a senior police officer."The encounter is going on and one militant has been killed. A trooper of the Rashtriya Rifles was also injured in the gunfight," said the officer.
'Afzal Guru became a victim of Pakistan's conspiracy. He was used as a means, just like all other innocent Kashmiris.'
In a significant shift, Kashmiris from villages once considered strongholds of militancy have joined the condemnation of the recent massacre of 26 people in Pahalgam, raising slogans against terrorism and expressing solidarity with the victims. This unprecedented display of public sentiment across the valley marks a possible turning point in the region's fight against violence.
'PM Modi would have swept the elections in Kashmir after notebandi but then he scrapped Article 370 so all his good work went down the drain.'
The terrorists fired at a check post that was jointly being manned by troops of CRPF's 179th battalion and the Jammu and Kashmir Police, they said. This is the third attack against the paramilitary force in the Kashmir valley within a week.
Officials said the polling went off peacefully in all segments including special polling stations along the International Border and Line of Control (LoC) with no untoward incident reported from anywhere.
Sopore -- known as the 'apple town' of Kashmir -- is fast gaining notoriety for becoming a safe haven of terrorists, especially of Pakistan-based Hizbul Mujahideen and Lashkar-e-Tayiba, as it has seen a sudden spurt in violence during the last six weeks.
A cop was killed and another injured when militants attacked a police team in the Sopore town of North Kashmir Tuesday evening.
Nine people were injured in a string of terror attacks in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Monday.
To effectively deal with the law and order situation, the Jammu and Kashmir government announced the carving out of a separate police district in north Kashmir Sopore town.
The Superintendent of Police of Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore district, Altaf Khan, was on Tuesday shifted in the wake of the death of a youth allegedly in police custody in the north Kashmir town on Sunday.
Militants struck in Kashmir's Sopore district late Wednesday night, targeting local Member of Legislative Assembly Mohammad Ashraf.
Two days after militants killed a cop and a civilian in the apple rich north Kashmir's Sopore town, they struck again on Monday evening killing another cop and wounding a civilian.
Militants gunned down a Special Police Officer and critically wounded a trooper of the Territorial Army in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Saturday afternoon. A senior police officer said the attack happened in Brat Kalan locality of Sopore town, 54 km from capital Srinagar.
Curfew was lifted on Friday from Jammu and Kashmir's Sopore town, which witnessed mob violence last week, following an improvement in the situation.
"Immediately after the blasts, a group of policemen went outside to locate the place where from the grenades had been fired. Terrorists triggered a pre-planted improvised explosive device they had kept inside a parked scooter when the policemen neared it," the officer said
One militant was killed and five people, including two cops, were injured in a triple militant strike in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Saturday.
Two policemen were arrested on Saturday evening for their alleged involvement in the custodial death of 27-year-old youth Nazim Rashid Shalla in north Kashmir's Sopore town.
"Three civilians and a CRPF trooper were injured in the explosion. The injured were taken to hospital for treatment," the spokesman said.
He said troops of 22 Rashtriya Rifles and special operations group (SOG) of the state police jointly surrounded Noorbagh locality of the Sopore town, 54 km from Srinagar on Sunday evening on a specific information.
The body of Bilal Ahmad Wani, the 23-year old youth killed during clashes with Central Reserve Police Force personnel on Friday, was buried in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Monday morning. Angry locals carried the body of the youth to the main chowk, shouting pro-freedom and anti-India slogans. Security forces fired warning shots and tear smoke shells and resorted to baton charges to disperse the agitated protestors who were trying to march to the police station.
The Jammu and Kashmir government on Thursday paid cash relief to the families whose houses were destroyed and damaged in the last month's standoff between militants and the security forces in the Chinkipora locality of north Kashmir's Sopore town.
Two terrorists, including a top commander of the Harkat-ul-Mujaheedin outfit, and a soldier of the Indian Army were killed in a fierce encounter near north Kashmir's Sopore town on Wednesday.
Authorities imposed curfew in north Kashmir Sopore and Baramulla towns and curfew-like-restrictions in the summer capital Srinagar to foil separatist called sit-ins and protests Wednesday.
Two special police officers and a constable were killed when terrorists attacked the state guard at the residence of a local political leader in north kashmir's Sopore town late on Tuesday evening.
Two days after two sisters were gunned down, terrorists fired two grenades in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Wednesday morning. However, the explosions did not cause any damage, a senior police officer said.
A captain from the Indian Army was wounded in an encounter with terrorists in north Kashmir's Sopore town on Tuesday evening.
PDP leader Iltija Mufti alleged that she and her mother, party chief Mehbooba Mufti, were placed under house arrest in Kashmir. They were planning to visit families of victims of army firing incidents in Sopore and Kathua. Iltija Mufti criticized the restrictions, stating that comforting victims' families is being criminalized in Kashmir.
Unidentified militants struck near the bus stand in the north Kashmir's Sopore town late this morning, killing a police constable and a civilian.
A youth was hit by a direct smoke shell injuring him critically in the day long police protestor clashes in north Kashmir's Sopore town. Police said eight persons including five cops were also injured in the clashes triggered by the drowning of a teenager in the town during Tuesday's clashes.
An undertrial Pakistani militant and a police constable were killed, and four security personnel injured, in a blast inside a police vehicle in North Kashmir's Sopore town on Saturday afternoon.
The grenade missed the target and exploded on the roadside without causing any damage.
The Indian Army on Saturday said that the person manhandled by a mob in north Kashmir's Sopore town during the rally of hard-line separatist leader Syed Ali Shah Geelani on Friday was 'part of the covert team of security forces'.
The fierce encounter in north Kashmir's Sopore town ended late on Wednesday after security forces gunned down the lone holed up Lashkar-e -Tayiba militant.
None of its candidates won. Most of them lost badly.
© 2026 Rediff.com - Investor Information - Advertise with us - Disclaimer - Privacy Policy - Sitemap - Feedback - About us - Terms of use - Grievances