Jammu: Four Central Industrial Security Force (CISF) personnel were killed in a “friendly firing” incident at the Sewa Project in the Mashka area of J&K’s Kathua district on Tuesday, officials said.
The firing incident occurred after an altercation reportedly broke out among CISF personnel deployed for security duties at the project site, the officials said.
Four personnel sustained gunshot injuries in the firing and were shifted to a hospital for treatment, where they later succumbed to their injuries.
Those killed included Assistant Commandant Ankit Kumar Pandey, SI Lakshman Singh, and constables Rafiq Ahmed and Sandeep Kumar. All four succumbed to their injuries after being admitted to NHPC Hospital in Himachal Pradesh.
Police teams reached the spot soon after the incident and secured the area to prevent any further untoward incident. An investigation into the circumstances leading to the firing is underway.
A senior police officer said that the circumstances surrounding the firing were being investigated. The exact sequence of events and the reasons that led to the altercation and subsequent firing are yet to be established.
Police have initiated an investigation and are examining all relevant aspects of the incident. Further details are awaited as the investigation progresses.
Fratricidal firing incidents have occurred in the past as well in J&K among the deployed security forces. Experts have attributed these incidents to long separation from families, performing duties under pressure, lack of recreational avenues and last but not least, lack of command and control structure.
Frequent periodic leaves to rejoin families, rationalisation of duty hours, availability of recreational avenues and informal interaction with the commanding officers are some of the remedies suggested by experts to deal with the incidents of fratricidal firing among the deployed security forces.
(IANS)
