Three Central Reserve Police Force troopers, including an officer, were killed in a shootout by an irate trooper near the Vaishno Devi shrine in Katra town of Udhampur district.

Police said the irate trooper shot and killed his immediate officer and a colleague before shooting himself near the shrine late Monday morning.

"Constable Devinder Singh of 140 Bn CRPF fired indiscriminately from his automatic rifle at inspector Snoob and constable Praveen Kumar near the shrine," Alok Puri, deputy inspector general of police Reasi Udhampur range told rediff.com.

"Both of them received fatal bullet injuries and succumbed on way to hospital. The irate trooper also shot himself and died on the spot, before he could be overpowered," Puri said.

The shooting incident triggered panic in the area.

Incidents like this have occurred from time to time since violence erupted in Jammu and Kashmir.

Authorities have taken several steps to stop the recurrence of such incidents.

Services of counsellors have also been employed to tackle the stress among the deployed soldiers of the army and paramilitary. Besides creating recreational facilities at the unit level, provisions have been made for regular leaves, to enable the soldiers to join their families.