By IANS
Srinagar : Security forces gunned down two suicide attackers who stormed the heavily guarded battalion headquarters of a paramilitary force in the outskirts of the Jammu and Kashmir summer capital early Thursday.
The attack on the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp took place close to the Zakura Police Station, 14 km from the main city centre Lal Chowk.
"The operation is over and both the attackers have been killed," Inspector General of CRPF S.K. Singh told IANS here.
Six CRPF troopers were injured in the nearly two-hour-long battle and have been taken to hospital for treatment.
Giving details of the operation, a senior police officer said two suicide attackers hurled grenades and sprayed bullets at the sentry post of the 142-battalion headquarters Thursday morning.
"While one attacker was killed near the sentry post the other was spotted, surrounded and killed in the camp area," the officer said.
The explosions and gunfire led to panic in Zakura area on the Srinagar-Kargil Highway, which is on the route of pilgrims to the holy cave shrine of Amarnath via the north Kashmir Baltal base camp. The authorities halted the passage of shrine bound pilgrims in the wake of the attack.
"We will allow the passage of traffic on the Srinagar-Baltal road after some time," a police officer said.
No group has yet claimed responsibility for the attack, the first suicide attack in the restive Kashmir Valley this year.