J&K: One cop martyred, 7 others injured in terror attack on police patrol party in Pantha Chowk

NEW DELHI: One policeman was martyred and seven others were injured after terrorists ambushed a police party in Pantha Chowk area of Jammu and Kashmir's Srinagar district on Friday.According to police, a bus of J&K Armed police (JKAP) came under terror attack near Zewan (in Pantha Chowk) in outskirts of Srinagar district at around 8pm."Eight policemen were injured, one of whom has expired, when terrorists attacked the bus at around 7.45 pm,"a senior police official said, adding, that the cops were returning to JKAP headquarters after day long duty.He also said that "two more policemen are in critical condition."The slain cop was identified as head constable Krishan Lal while head constable Shabir Ahmad, selection grade constable Abdul Hamid and constable Mehraj-ud-din were stated be critical."Policemen sustained serious bullet injuries and were rushed to a nearby hospital," the police officer said.A counter-operation is currently underway to nab the terrorists.Meanwhile, Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba has claimed the responsibility of the attack.Interestingly, the police and the security forces had the information of the two terrorist groups on prowl in Srinagar on mission to strike either on Eid-Al-Azha (Bakra Eid) falling on Saturday. But the intelligence sources had suggested that two terrorists on prowl belong to Jaish-e-Mohammad.According to eyewitnesses, the terror attack was so massive that the entire bus was smashed with the bullets. The bullets pierced through the windscreen and hit the policemen in the bus.Last month, five security personnel were martyred when terrorists stormed into a police camp on August 26.Two CRPF personnel and three policemen, including two SPOs, lost the lives in the attack on the compound, which also houses many residential buildings, officials had said.