In the worst incident of its kind in 15 years, an irate paramilitary soldier gunned down seven of his colleagues and critically injured two others in the north Kashmir town of Baramulla, 54 km from Srinagar, around midnight last night.
Panic and chaos kept the Central Reserve Police Force personnel from reacting immediately. The berserk trooper was eventually gunned down.
The police said the constable belonging to the 152 CRPF battalion, posted inside the company headquarters at Baramulla, went on a shooting spree around midnight. Before guards could respond he had killed seven of his colleagues, including the company commander, who was of the rank of inspector, and another sub-inspector.
"The soldier sprayed gunfire from his automatic rifle on his colleagues. We don't know the details as the witnesses who could have provided us details are no more. In all, eight soldiers died in the incident including the trooper," a senior CRPF officer told rediff.com
The officer said two critically injured soldiers are undergoing treatment at the Soura Medical Institute in Srinagar.
CRPF sources said an internal inquiry is being conducted to ascertain the reasons for the trooper's murderous rage.
There have been several incidents of troopers reacting violently to the stress of being posted in Jammu and Kashmir. Psychologists and counselors have been employed by various army and paramilitary units to sort out the problems of tension and trauma among troopers and officers.
Such studies have indicated that continued distance from their families, the discharge of duties in an extremely hostile environment and the absence of recreational facilities are said to be the main causes for such ugly incidents.
Many soldiers have killed commanding officers on the refusal of leave or in knee-jerk responses to the call of duty. An incident like last night's encounter is a major challenge to security managers in Kashmir.
