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| 3-day EDI gunfight ends, 2 terrorists killed | | |  Jehangir Rashid
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Oct 12: The three day long encounter between militants and security forces at the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) at Pampore culminated in the afternoon today after the second militant was killed by security forces.
Reports said that the operation was officially called off by the security forces after the EDI building was fully sanitized. The security forces checked the 50 odd rooms of the EDI building and following the same it was made public that the operation is over. Some arms and ammunition were recovered by the security forces from the possession of slain militants.
Sources said that the identity of slain militants has not been established as yet and efforts are on to establish their credentials. Although, the affiliation of the slain militants has not been established so far, but it is presumed that they owed their allegiance to Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) militant outfit.
Reports said that during the three day long encounter the Srinagar-Jammu national highway was closed at Pampore since the EDI building runs parallel to the highway. The security forces had cordoned off the EDI building as soon as the militants managed their entry inside the EDI building.
General Officer Commanding (GOC) Victor Force Lt General Ashok Narula told reporters at the encounter site that the operation carried on for more than two days as the security forces did not want any damage to civilians and civilian property. He said the second militant was killed this morning at about 9 AM and once the sanitization process was over the operation was called off.
"We had to wait for two days to finish the encounter as we did not want any casualty on the civilian side. While one militant was killed yesterday in the evening the second one was killed today in the morning. We had to be patient while dealing with militants in this particular encounter and I am glad the job has been done in an able and honest manner," said Lt Gen Narula.
It would be in place to mention here that the encounter started at about 6:30 AM on Monday and the same ended today after duration of more than 56 hours. In the initial burst of gunfire an army jawan and a police constable were injured on Monday morning. On Tuesday a militant was killed when he tried to jump from the rear side of EDI building.
A police spokesman in a statement said that the encounter at EDI building at Pampore ended today with the killing of two militants. The spokesman said that the encounter had started on October 10 between the militants and security forces. On the first day itself the militants were asked to surrender. Instead they fired upon police and security forces from the building. The militants also set some rooms of the building on fire. An army jawan was injured in the encounter on the first day.
"The police and security forces kept continued cordon around the building and also started room intervention. During this encounter two militants were killed. Bodies of the militants have been recovered from the encounter site. The identity of the slain militants is being ascertained. Two AK rifles, nine magazines, grenades and other ammunition have been recovered from the encounter site," said the police spokesman.
Pertinent to mention that since Monday morning security forces fired scores of mortar shells and rockets towards the EDI building in order to kill the militants. The militants did not retaliate and they did not respond to the mortar shelling. The same continued till evening and following the same the militant was killed.
The security forces did not storm the EDI building fearing that they might suffer casualties as such. The security forces had decided to adopt a wait and watch policy and as such were waiting for the right time before the militants are neutralized.
In the morning on Monday two militants fired some shots near the EDI building to create panic in the area and immediately took shelter in the top most storey of EDI building. It has come to the fore that militants used a boat to reach the EDI building following which they fired some shots towards the security forces personnel. The river Jhelum flows in the backyard of EDI building. The army soldier injured has been identified as Naik Rohit Roy from 311 Gorkha Regiment.
It would be in place to mention here that one of the buildings of EDI was gutted during a gunfight between militants and security forces in February this year. Nine persons including three militants and three security forces were killed in the gunfight at that time and the two sides traded fire for more than 48 hours.
This time around the militants had taken refuge in a building that is located parallel to the gutted building. The seven storeyed state of the art building has suffered huge damages and the building went up in flames. Army used IEDs and rockets to blast the building. Militants also fired upon the fire tender that was rushed to douse the flames in the building.
The EDI building is located in the Sempora-Pampore area on Srinagar-Jammu national highway. It is located in the South Kashmir's Pulwama district in the outskirts of summer capital of the state. The EDI building is placed at a strategic location and there is proper security at the entrance of the building. Army and Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel are always posted on the highway that runs parallel to the EDI buildings. |
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