Heartbreaking pictures of a three-year-old boy sitting on the body of his grandfather, who was killed in a terror attack in North Kashmir’s Sopore district, went viral on social media on Wednesday. The civilian was killed right in front of his three-year-old grandson. One CRPF Head Constable was also killed while three security personnel were injured after terrorists struck a CRPF party in Sopore earlier in the day.
The heartbreaking pictures that surfaced showed the young boy sitting on his grandfather’s body, his white shirt soaked with blood. The boy was later taken by the army and police personnel as they attended to him post the trauma.
The Jammu-Kashmir Police later shared the picture of the boy being carried by a security personnel on its official Twitter handle, saying it "rescued a three-year-old boy from getting hit by bullets during terrorist attack in Sopore."
JKP #rescued a three years old boy from getting hit by bullets during #terrorist #attack in #Sopore. @JmuKmrPolice pic.twitter.com/hzqGGvG7yN
— Kashmir Zone Police (@KashmirPolice) July 1, 2020
According to agencies, the CRPF party was fired by terrorists, drawing an instant retaliation. The troops were from the G company of CRPF's 179th battalion.
"One head constable succumbed to his injuries, three more are injured and stable," IG CRPF Rajesh Kumar told IANS.
#WATCH Jammu & Kashmir Police console a 3-year-old child after they rescued him during a terrorist attack in Sopore, take him to his mother. The child was sitting beside his dead relative during the attack. pic.twitter.com/znuGKizACh
— ANI (@ANI) July 1, 2020
Meanwhile, allegations have risen that it was not the terrorists who killed him, but security forces have strongly denied these allegations.
Heartbreaking pictures of a 3 year old with the body of his grandfather who was killed in firing during a terrorist attack in Sopore North Kashmir on Wednesday. Boy was rescued from getting hit by bullets. Family of the deceased alleges that he was killed by the security forces. pic.twitter.com/ywUB5XTtg1
— Mojo Story (@themojo_in) July 1, 2020
The paramilitary force, in a statement issued in Delhi, said the violent incident began when its troops started getting down from their bus at the location to "occupy their respective spots of deployment."
"Militants hiding in the attic of a nearby mosque started firing indiscriminately on the troops resulting in injuries to four CRPF personnel," it said. "A civilian vehicle which was coming from Sopore and going towards Kupwara was caught in the firing range of terrorists. An old man who was driving the vehicle stopped the car and got down from the vehicle to move away to a safe spot but got killed by terrorists firing," the force said.
The injured CRPF personnel have been rushed to army's 92 base hospital in Srinagar.
This is the second attack on CRPF in Sopore in the last three months. On April 18, terrorists fired at a CRPF party killing three troopers.
A separate encounter started at Tral in South Kashmir on Tuesday night after inputs about the presence of a group of three terrorists. The fire fight stopped in the night itself but the search operation was still going on.