- Gunmen opened fire near Matial Maira locality.
- Rangers moved in after police sought reinforcements.
- One Rangers person was also injured during exchange of fire.
RAWALAKOT: One Rangers personnel was martyred and another injured after armed members of the banned Jammu Kashmir Joint Awami Action Committee (JAAC) attacked security forces who were responding to reports of indiscriminate firing near Matial Maira bus terminus in Rawalakot, security sources said on Tuesday.
According to sources, armed groups belonging to the outlawed JAAC opened indiscriminate fire in a civilian area near Matial Maira bus terminal early in the morning.
AJK police said the illegal organization, having failed to mobilize public support in recent weeks, resorted to the fire in an attempt to shift the blame onto the security forces. The incident was captured through aerial surveillance, police said.
When the police, accompanied by security forces, moved out to restore law and order, they were attacked by the armed assailants.
Rangers personnel deployed to support the police also reached the spot where one Rangers official embraced martyrdom and another sustained injuries in the exchange of fire.
The AJK police further confirmed that explosives were also used during the violence. It said an operation was underway to clear the area of armed JAAC members and protesters, claiming local residents had been held hostage at gunpoint.
Police described the day’s events as evidence of the banned organisation’s violent behavior and said its armed members had resorted to anarchic tactics during the attack.
The AJK government on June 5 declared JAAC a proscribed organization under the Anti-Terrorism Act (ATA), saying the group was engaged in terrorism.
The ban was imposed days ahead of the banned outfit’s planned protest on June 9 to abolish 12 seats in AJK reserved for refugees from Indian illegally occupied Jammu and Kashmir (IIOJK) who migrated to Pakistan after 1947.
