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| 26 hrs long gunbattle ends; 2 militants, 5 cops among 10 dead | | Over a dozen police, CRPF personnel among 18 wounded | |
Srinagar, Oct 05 : More than twenty six hours long gunbattle between the militants and security forces at busy Lal Chowk area of Srinagar ended this afternoon as the security forces claimed to have gunned down both the militants, who were holding up in a hotel, since Wednesday morning.
As the encounter ended the officials put the death toll to ten including a civilian, five police personnel and two CRPF jawans. More than eighteen persons, mostly para-military and police personnel have also received injuries in the attack.
Official sources told News Agency of Kashmir that security forces tightened the cordon of the Standard Hotel, where the militants were hiding during the wee hours today. As the firing stopped late last night security forces maintained a tight vigil around the hotel so as to prevent the escape of the militants.
While one of the hold up militant is believed to have been killed somewhere late last evening, a senior CRPF officer told media persons that the security personnel stormed the hotel premises this morning and killed the remaining militant.
At around 2:30 PM the security forces and SOG personnel finally entered the building and declared it safe.
Director General of Police Gopal Sharma told media persons that ten persons, including five police personnel and two CRPF jawans were killed during the encounter. He said that the cops observed restraint so as to avoid civilian casualties and damage to adjoining residential buildings. He said that it was due to this reason that police and CRPF suffered such high number of causalities in the attack.
As per the police sources those killed in the attack have been identified as ASI Nazeer Ahmed, HC Showkat Ahmed, Constable Muhammad Ameen, SGCT Randhir Singh, Constable Bashir Ahmed, CRPF Constable Jaswant Singh and Constable Jatinder Singh and civilian Fayaz Ahmed.
Though initially the security forces were suspecting the presence of another militant inside the hotel, searches led to the recovery of only two bodies of the militants. The identification of the slain militants could not be ascertained immediately.
The fire-fight began after the militants lobbed a grenade and fired indiscriminately at the CRPF camp near Maisuma Chowk, Wednesday morning.
But they were forced to retreat into the hotel premises after the CRPF personnel retaliated. Soon after, people were evacuated from the area, troopers closed in on Lal Chowk and a heavy gun-battle began.
Militant outfit Al-Mansoorian had yesterday claimed that a three-member suicide squad attacked the CRPF camp, which lies close to a congested residential area of Srinagar, summer capital of the troubled state of Jammu and Kashmir.
The attack is the biggest in recent months in Srinagar, which has seen almost daily street protests over the past week after a Delhi court fixed October 20 as the date for hanging a Kashmiri man, convicted for his role in a 2001 attack on the Indian parliament. |
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