The cordon and search operation launched after the attack on a CRPF team in south Kashmir's Kulgam district continued for the second day on Thursday.
Three CRPF personnel – head constable Sonbir Singh and constables Santano Chandra and Rakesh Das – were injured in the attack that took place around 2:15 pm on Wednesday near Mir Bazaar area of Kulgam. Officials said that all three are now out of danger.
Eyewitnesses said that the site of the attack has been surrounded. On Thursday morning, forensic teams along with security forces and officials from different agencies were also seen in the area.
Kulgam SSP Anayat Ali Chaudhary dismissed reports which claimed that the attack was carried out by bike-borne assailants.
"The news that is going around is wrong," he told the BBC.
No information was immediately available about the number of attackers who opened fire.
A source said investigators suspect the main attacker was wearing a pheran. During winters in Kashmir, people wear Phiran over normal clothes to protect themselves from cold.
However, SSP Chaudhary neither confirmed nor denied it.
According to news agency PTI report, two heavily armed militants came out of a dense thicket of trees near the area and fired at the CRPF personnel. After this they ran away towards the forest.
After the attack, security has been increased in many areas of Jammu and Kashmir.
This attack took place on National Highway-44. This is an important route which is used by security forces to move between Kashmir, Ladakh and Jammu.
A shopkeeper in the Mir Bazaar area, near the attack site, told the BBC on condition of anonymity that he first heard screaming and then saw some people running for their lives.
He said, "The entire area echoed with the sound of bullets. I closed my shop and ran away in panic."
A video of the attack was also recorded in the CCTV camera installed in the area, which has gone viral on social media.
In one of the clips, at least two men in uniform can be seen running to safety amid gunfire.
During this time, sounds of some people screaming are also heard behind.
Dr. Bilal Musharraf Bande, Medical Superintendent of Government Medical College, Anantnag, said that three CRPF soldiers were brought to the hospital.
"The condition of all three is stable. However, on the request of the authorities, one of the soldiers has been sent to the Army Base Hospital in Srinagar," he told the BBC.
The Lieutenant Governor of Jammu and Kashmir visited the Army Hospital in Srinagar and said that the culprits of the attack will be brought to justice.
Lieutenant Governor Manoj Sinha also held a meeting at Lok Bhawan to review the security situation in Jammu and Kashmir.
Sinha wrote on social media platform
The attack has also been condemned by the ruling National Conference, opposition Bharatiya Janata Party and other leaders.
To nab the attackers, several joint teams of Army, CRPF and Jammu and Kashmir Police launched a search operation in the areas adjacent to the attack site.
A source said that for the second consecutive day on Thursday, security forces interrogated dozens of people in these cordoned off areas.
Checkpoints have been made at some places in Kulgam, where security forces stopped public transport vehicles and private cars and searched the passengers.
However, this time people have not been detained on a large scale in Kashmir, as has been happening after such attacks in the past.
A new organization named 'Pasdaran-e-Hurriyat' claimed responsibility for the attack in a statement circulated on social media platform X and other mediums.
However, officials have not yet confirmed this claim.
Security agencies believe that such new organizations act as front organizations for Pakistan-based organizations like Jaish-e-Mohammed and Lashkar-e-Taiba to continue their extremist activities in Jammu and Kashmir and divert the attention of the international community.
Meanwhile, two special police officers had gone missing in Dachhan area of the hilly Kishtwar district of Jammu and Kashmir. Their bullet-riddled bodies were recovered on Thursday morning.
No extremist organization has yet taken responsibility for this incident, which took place a few hours after the Kulgam attack.
The hilly Kishtwar district of Jammu region has seen an increase in extremist activities in recent times.
An army soldier was killed and several others were injured during an encounter in the district in January this year.
