**Bhubaneswar**: The new year eve turned out to be a day of mourning for the family of Pradeep Kumar Panda, a CRPF Jawan hailing from Liploi village in Rajgangpur of Sundergarh district as he achieved martyrdom in a terrorist attack on a CRPF training centre in Jammu and Kashmir’s Pulwama district on Sunday.
Ironically he had changed his profile picture on social media with a frame of ‘Happy New Year, 2018’ just a few days back to greet his friends and relatives on this occasion.
Notably, heavily-armed militants stealthily entered the camp in Lathpora area about two hours after midnight, hurling grenades and resorting to indiscriminate gunfire which claimed the life of five troopers including the Odia jawan.
Odisha CM Naveen Patnaik conveyed heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families and expressed deep grief at the death of five CRPF jawans including Odia jawan Pradeep Panda in terrorist attack in Kashmir.
CM @Naveen_Odisha expressed deep grief at the death of five CRPF jawans including Odia jawan Pradeep Panda in terrorist attack in Kashmir. He saluted the valour of jawans who made supreme sacrifice for motherland. The CM conveyed heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families
— CMO Odisha (@CMO_Odisha) December 31, 2017
After barging in, the two militants secured positions in the CRPF camp located on the Srinagar-Jammu highway until they were killed, a police officer said.
The Pakistan-based Jaish-e-Muhammad (JeM) claimed responsibility for the daring attack on the 185 Battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force.
“Security forces including Rashtriya Rifles, CRPF and state police jointly carried out an operation to flush out the militants,” the official said.
As a precaution, authorities suspended Internet facility in Pulwama district.
Traffic on the Srinagar-Jammu highway was halted for some time during the counter-insurgency operations.
