Srinagar: The 56-hour gunbattle between security forces and militants holed up in a government building at Pampore on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway ended on Wednesday afternoon with both the ultras hiding there were shot dead.
As there were reports of two to three militants present in the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) complex, the security forces had to search all the 50 rooms of the building before calling off the operation, an army official said.
“We have recovered bodies of two militants and the search operation at the EDI building in Pampore has been almost completed,” the army official said.
While one militant was killed Tuesday evening, the other militant was shot dead by the security forces on Wednesday, the official said.
The official said details about the slain militants were being ascertained but prima facie there were indications that they belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba.
Security forces pounded the EDI building since Monday after the militants barged inside the complex with the aim of engaging the law enforcing agencies.
The operation, which lasted more than 56 hours, has reduced the multi-storey building to a skeleton after many of its walls were blown up.
Elite Para commandos of the army have were also called in to neutralise the militants, the official said.
The militants had stormed into the EDI complex in the wee hours of Monday and took positions inside one of the buildings.
The ultras could have entered the complex from the riverside but it is yet to be ascertained, an official said.
After getting inside the complex, the militants set afire few mattresses inside a hostel room to attract the attention of the police and other security forces, which arrived within minutes of the smoke emanating from the building.
General Officer Commanding (GOC) of Victor Force Major General Ashok Narula said army cordoned off the area on Monday around 7 AM after getting information about the presence of militants.
“We cordoned off the area after there was firing from the building. We brought in more forces and started our operation,” he said.
Flanked by Inspector General of Police, Kashmir, S J M Geelani, he said the operation was very tedious and security forces followed the drill effectively to eliminate the holed up militants. “It was a very lengthy operation because EDI is a very huge building. We did not want to have any collateral damage because there were chances of civilians being inside. All those people were taken out,” he said.
Major General Narula said there was a drill for everything and “we cannot do it in haste”.
“The day before yesterday we started the operation and yesterday we kept working on this. Then today morning we started the clearing operation. At this moment, there are two people who have been eliminated and the two weapons have been recovered,” he said.
IGP said the aim of the militants to occupy the building was two-pronged–to cause maximum causalities to security forces and to draw attention as they knew the operation will take time.
“Our people are alert. We are prepared for any eventuality,” he said, adding, “the deployment that has to be done in terms of defensive posturing that is being done and also in terms of pro-active operations, they would also be conducted.”
In the initial exchange of firing, one army soldier was injured.
Meanwhile, army on Wednesday foiled an infiltration bid by militants from across the Line of Control (LoC) in Tangdhar sector of Kupwara district in Jammu and Kashmir .
“An infiltration bid was foiled by Army in Tangdhar sector,” an Army official said. He said an operation has been launched and further details are awaited.
Terrorists planned attack on NH: IGP
Srinagar: Jammu and Kashmir Police on Wednesday said there were intelligence reports that some terrorists were planning to carry out attacks along the national highway here and the two ultras, who were killed in a 56-hour gunbattle with security forces in Pampore, might have been part of that group.
Inspector General of Police (IGP) Kashmir, SJM Geelani, speaking to reporters after the Pampore encounter, said there were intelligence inputs about terrorists trying to carry out attacks along the national highway.
“After the encounter that took place in Baramulla, the attack that happened, we had information that there were few people who were trying to sneak into the city and carry out attacks on the highway, so our people were alert,” Geelani said. The IGP said the militants could not carry out attack on the highway because the security forces were alert.
“Probably it was also because of the fact that our people were alert and they (militants) could not cause any damage on the highway and they had to take shelter in the building,” he said.
Two ultras who were holed up in a government building on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway were killed today after a 56-hour gunbattle between terrorists and security forces in Pampore.
The IGP said the aim of the terrorists to occupy the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) building was two-pronged — to cause maximum casualties to the security forces and to draw the attention as they knew the operation will take time.
“The aim was to increase the casualties of the security forces who would come for the operation. And they had opted for this building because the operation would take time and so they would draw the attention,” he said.
Geelani said the security forces were alert and prepared for any eventuality.
The deployment that has to be done in terms of defensive posturing, is being done and also in terms of pro-active operations, they would also be conducted, he said.