Two gunmen shot and injured 10 police paramilitaries Monday who were trying to impose a curfew in the main city of India-held Kashmir (IHK) during Indian Independence Day, security sources said.
Three of those who were wounded are in a serious condition, according to a spokesman for the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF), after two separate attacks in the centre of Srinagar where security forces had been on high alert.
CRPF Spokesman Bhuvesh Chaudhary said that seven paramilitaries had been injured in the first attack in the Nowhatta neighbourhood and three others were injured shortly afterwards in another shooting close by.
Another security official, speaking on condition of anonymity, said that intermittent firing was still being heard in the neighbourhood and it was not yet clear how many gunmen had been involved.
Operations were continuing against the attackers, who were holed up in a nearby building, police said. No further details were immediately available and there was no claim of responsibility.
Authorities have imposed a curfew in large parts of IHK since July 9 following an upsurge in violence sparked by the killing of Hizbul Mujahideen commander Burhan Wani.
At least 70 civilians have been killed in clashes between protestors and security forces, and thousands more injured in the worst violence to hit the Himalayan region since 2010.
Although Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi made no direct reference to the situation in Kashmir in his annual Independence Day speech on Monday he made a general appeal for youths to steer clear of violence.
“I want to tell these youths that this country will never tolerate terrorism, this country will never tolerate terrorists and this country will never bow down to terrorists.” he said.
Separately, the Indian Army said it had foiled an attempt to infiltrate two militants from Pakistan into India. The two men were killed in the Uri sector of the de facto border between the neighbouring countries in North Kashmir.
Both India and Pakistan rule Kashmir in part but claim it in full. The nuclear-armed neighbours have fought two of their three wars since independence 69 years ago over the Muslim-majority region where the Line of Control, or de facto border, still runs roughly where the guns fell silent in 1948.