The security forces on Wednesday killed second terrorist holed up inside a multi-storey Government building at Pampore on the outskirts of capital Srinagar ending the 56-hour standoff that reduced the riverside building into a charred skeleton. One terrorist had been killed on Tuesday evening as the security forces systematically carried out the operation to exhaust the holed-up terrorists and avoid collateral damage.
Officials said that Army’s Special Forces stormed the building on Wednesday morning and shot dead the lone terrorist, who was intermittently opening fire from changed positions. After a lull of several hours, the security forces took over the control of the building. Two bodies of terrorists were recovered from the building. The identity and allegiance of the slain terrorists are being ascertained, said official sources.
The gunfight, second on the same premises in eight months, erupted on Monday morning when the terrorists reportedly sailed in a boat to enter the building from the rear side. The hostel building of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) at Sempora near Pampore town, 10 kilometres south of Srinagar, is located on a plateau between right bank of River Jhelum and Srinagar-Jammu National Highway. The highway was blocked for the vehicular traffic since the encounter began.
The militants shortly after taking positions inside the building set the attic on fire to catch attention of the security forces. When the firefighters were rushed in to douse the flames, they came under fire, which established the presence of militants inside the building and their design. Officials maintain that the terrorists, believed to be lashkar-e-Tayyeba cadres, wanted to attract attention at a time when a prolonged shutdown sponsored by separatist groups has entered into the fourth month.
“We have taken our time. This is a huge building, which has 60 rooms with attached bathrooms. It takes time to clear each and every room,” said Major General Ashok Narula General Officer Commanding of Victor Force, a counter-insurgency division that controls south Kashmir region, after the operation. He said two terrorists have been killed in the encounter and their two weapons recovered.
There were no civilians trapped in the building as the hostel building was deserted due to the ongoing shutdown in the Valley that has left the Government offices paralysed.
locals said that they heard huge explosions from the encounter site early in the morning. The security forces were pounding mortars on the building for the past three days from a distance. The exchange of fire and shelling reduced the otherwise attractive building into a skeleton smeared with smoke. Villagers across the river shouted slogans in favour of terrorists during the stand-off.
Hours after the final assault was carried out and the firing from inside the building stopped the security forces carried out room-to-room mopping to rule out booby traps inside the expansive building.
Inspector General of Police Javed Gilani said there was no major injury to the security forces personnel in the gunfight. He said the aim of terrorists was to attract attention through this attack.
Gilani said the security forces were apprehensive of terrorists’ plans to strike in the Srinagar city but elaborate arrangements were made to frustrate their designs.
“There was possibility that some people might sneak into the city or carry out these kinds of attacks. Our people were alert and they (militants) could not cause any damage on the highway,” said Gilani.
This is the second gunfight on the EDI premises in eight months. On February 20, leT fidayeen attacked a CRPF convoy on the highway before taking positions in the multi-storey EDI building. The fierce gunfight that ensued resulted into heavy casualties to the armed forces. Three commandos, including two officers Captain Pawan Kumar and Captain Tushar Mahajan of the elite forces, died in the three-day long operation. This time the security forces went slow to ensure no causality to forces.
The terrorists also killed eight CRPF personnel in a separate attack on June 25 in the vicinity of EDI building.
Meanwhile, normal life remained crippled in the Valley for the 95th consecutive day. The authorities imposed curfew in several old Srinagar localities on Ashura, the martyrdom anniversary of Prophet Muhammad’s grandson Imam Hussain. The Shia mourners were not allowed to carry out the traditional tazia procession from lal Chowk area.