Minutes before commencement of a Congress convention, militants shot at and critically wounded two CRPF personnel deployed outside the Pamposh Hotel in the heart of the city this morning, police said.

The militants fired at the CRPF personnel from a close range at around 11.25 AM critically injuring two of them, they said.
     
The injured were rushed to a hospital where condition of one was stated to be critical, they said.
     
The firing caused panic in the Regal Chowk area and nearby Residency Road as shopkeepers pulled down their shutters and ran for safety.
      
The state Congress has organised a convention of Srinagar District Congress Committee at the Hotel which was to be addressed by the JKPCC Chief Saifuddin Soz around noon.
      
In a separate incident, a policeman was shot at from close range outside the fire service headquarters at Batmaloo in central Srinagar around 11.45 hours and taken to hospital in a critical condition, the police said.