Top police sources here said three of the four militants were “suspected” to have been killed in the operation which started at 4 p.m. yesterday. There were no reports about any possible damage to the mosque in the over 24-hour operation. Till the last reports came in the operation was still going on.

One SPO or a counter-insurgent was killed in the firing by the holed up militants last evening, reports reaching here said.

The IG, Police, Kashmir Zone, Dr Ashok Bhan, told TNS that the siege continued after the security forces laid a cordon around the mosque late in the afternoon on Sunday. “Efforts are on to flush out militants without any damage to the place of worship,” the IGP said.

Reports said that repeated calls to the militants to surrender had failed and they were firing intermittently on the security forces. The Army and SOG of the Jammu and Kashmir police cordoned off the local mosque at Shangus at about 4 p.m. yesterday, during a cordon and search operation on specific information about the presence of militants in the area. Unconfirmed reports said that four militants were holed up inside the mosque.

Two militants of the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Toiba were given a “safe passage” from a mosque in the Shopian area of Pulwama district of south Kashmir on the intervening night of May 30 and 31 last. The “passage” was given, according to the authorities, to prevent any hurting of the religious sentiments of the people, particularly in the wake of the forthcoming Indo-Pak summit.

Meanwhile, at least six persons, including two securitymen and one militant were killed in separate incidents in the Kashmir valley since yesterday. Three others were injured and three suspects were held while the security forces seized a large quantity of arms and ammunition during search operations.

Two security force personnel were killed in an ambush by the militants at Zachaldara near Handwara town of Kupwara district in north Kashmir today. Two jawans were also injured in the incident, the police said. In another IED explosion, a poultry-laden vehicle of the security forces was blown off in Kupwara district. The driver of the vehicle was injured in the explosion.