In the firing, two CRPF Jawans and one SPO of J&K police were killed. Soon...forces launched a search. The attackers were chased and killed, police said.

Security forces shot dead two terrorists, hours after they killed three security personnel in an attack in Jammu and Kashmir’s Baramulla district on Monday, the police said.

According to the police, the terrorists opened fire on a joint checkpoint of the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) and the J&K police in the Watergam Kreeri area of Baramulla.

“In the firing, two CRPF Jawans and one SPO [Special Police Officer] of J&K police were killed. Soon after the attack, forces launched a search operation. The attackers were chased and killed,” Kashmir’s inspector general of police (IGP) Vijay Kumar said.

He added that the gunmen were suspected to be the members of Pakistan-based terrorist outfit Lashkar-e-Taiba.

Officials familiar with the matter said on condition of anonymity that after the attack, the terrorists fled with the security personnel’s weapons, which were recovered from their possession.

Kumar said it seemed that the terrorists had changed their strategy in the Valley and are now attacking security checkpoints.

“It is a matter of concern. The number of forces on a naka point [checkpoint] is less and is normally in a remote area where they [the gunmen] conceal themselves by coming along with civilians and then fire on the forces. We have faced losses and they have managed to flee a few times, but, we will soon find a response to this tactic and end this problem,” he said.

This was the third attack on security forces in Kashmir in less than a week. On Friday, two policemen were killed and another injured after suspected Jaish-e-Mohammed terrorists opened fire on a police team in Srinagar’s Nowgam area. On August 12, a soldier was injured in an attack in Sopore’s Hygam area.