New Delhi: Hardly had the guns fallen silent after fierce fighting during Saturday's ambush of a CRPF contingent by militants in Jammu and Kashmir's Pampore when a row erupted between the paramilitary force and the army over whose personnel killed the terrorists.
While the army claimed to have killed the two militants in retaliatory fire, the CRPF lodged a protest against it for "wrongly claiming credit".
CRPF sources allege that the Army tried to take credit for killing the terrorists and even carried away weapons and ammunition found on their bodies, only to return them a few hours later.
The CRPF, which has been involved in counter-militancy operations in the Kashmir Valley, alleged some army troopers arrived at the scene after the encounter was over and started clicking selfies with the bodies of the slain militants.
Within no time, the army's Northern Command tweeted," Army kills two terrorists who fired upon CRPF convoy at Pampore, Kashmir Ops in prog. Injured CRPF personnel being attended to".
Fuming, the CRPF men and officers took up the matter with the Army's top brass.
Soon thereafter, the official twitter account of Northern Command posted a revised message, saying "Update on Pampore ops. Injured CRPF personnel evacuated to hospital. Two terrorists killed in joint op by security forces."
Unrelenting CRPF officers informed their top brass as well as that of the army that there was no joint operation. They said the army personnel arrived on the scene after the encounter was over and walked away with weapons and dates
carried by the militants, besides clicking selfies with their bodies.
"They were wrongly claiming credit for an operation of which they had no clue," said an officer who was associated with the developments on Saturday when two militants attacked a CRPF bus at Pampore, on the outskirts of Srinagar, killing eight personnel and wounding 21 before being felled in the counteroffensive by the paramilitary force.
The army was shown videos of its men busy clicking selfies after which an embarrassed Northern Command tweeted: "Update on Pampore Ops. Two terrorists killed by CRPF in retaliatory action. Earlier tweet stands corrected."
Director General of CRPF K Durga Prasad, who was today asked at a press conference about whether the army had played any role in the encounter, said "Army's 51 RR (Rashtriya Rifles) unit reached the spot after the incident got over."
The entire episode raises serious questions over coordination between different forces engaged in security operations, especially in Jammy and Kashmir where the attacks on security forces have intesified.
When contacted, spokesperson for Srinagar-based 15 Corps Col N N Joshi refused to comment.
Eight CRPF personnel were killed and 24 others critically wounded when terrorists rained bullets on a bus carrying them in South Kashmir's Pulwama district on Saturday.
Terrorists sprayed a bus carrying the personnel of 161 battalion of CRPF with bullets at Frestbal, 14 KMs from here, officials said. The CRPF's Road Opening Party (ROP) engaged the terrorists and killed two of them.
Militant outfit Lashkar-e-Toiba has claimed the responsibility of attack. Spokesperson Abdullah Ghaznavi said that two LeT militants belonging to a Fidayeen squad attacked the CRPF bus on highway.
“It was a successful attack that such type of attacks will continue in future as well,” he said.
(With inputs from PTI)
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