A joint team of security forces led by Para Commandos of the Indian Army on Sunday evening neutralised both the lashkar-e-Tayyeba (leT) terrorists holed up inside the sprawling campus of Delhi Public School (DPS), Srinagar for over 24 hours.
These two terrorists had entered the DPS campus soon after targeting a mobile patrol party of the Central Reserve Police Force near Pantha Chowk on Saturday, in which one CRPF Sub-Inspector was martyred and two others were injured.
Though contact was established between the security forces and the terrorists late on Saturday night, the operation to flush them out was launched with the first light of day to avoid any collateral damage inside the school campus.
Amid firing from both sides, the special forces zeroed in on the location of the terrorists inside the school building and pinned them down. The final assault was launched after 5.00 pm and it was only after 6.00 pm that senior police officers confirmed that both the terrorists were neutralised and their bodies were recovered from the fourth floor of the building. Unconfirmed reports claimed that two Para Commandos were also injured during the operation.
The school building, including the administrative block, library and some classrooms suffered huge damage during the operation.
The security forces took all possible precautions to prevent collateral damage. The teams conducted room-to-room searches to clear the building instead of using IED and Under Barrel Grenade launchers (UBGl) to blast the concrete structures.
DGP Dr SP Vaid had earlier told reporters, “We want to ensure that the building remains intact because the enemy seems intent on destroying our schools. They want students to abandon their education, but we will ensure that nothing like that happens.”
The ruling PDP also slammed the act in a tweet. “The attack on #DPSSrinagar is another attempt by these anti-Kashmir elements to push the youth of the State towards illiteracy. Destroying schools is a heinous ploy of anti-Kashmir elements who don’t want kids here to study and prosper.”
Even after the two terrorists were neutralised the joint teams of security forces were sanitising the entire school campus to rule out the possibility of another terrorist hiding in the area, as part of Standard Operating Procedure.
Cornered by the world community, a desperate Pakistan had probably masterminded the strike to embarrass India over the Kashmir issue. The State police authorities were trying to ascertain the identity of the terrorists as they believed they may be Pakistani nationals.
The surprise attack took place ahead of the festival of Eid and also coincided with the visit of Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi to the United States of America where he was expected to meet US President Donald Trump.
Meanwhile, a wreath-laying ceremony for the deceased CRPF Sub-Inspector, Sahab Shukla (50), was held at the Recruit Training Centre in Humhama on Sunday before dispatching his mortal remains to his native place in Gorakhpur. Top civil officials, besides a number of paramilitary and police personnel, attended the ceremony to pay their respects.