M A I N   N E W S

Daylong snowfall in Shimla
Tribune News Service and Agencies

Shimla, February 8
Normal life was paralysed as the town wore a thick white mantle due to the daylong snowfall here today. Vehicular traffic to the interior areas beyond here was suspended as the roads were buried under thick snow.

The tourist places of Manali, Solang Nullah, Kufri, Narkanda and the interior areas of the district, including Theog, Kotkhai, Jubbal and Chopal had a heavy snowfall. Most of the roads in the district were closed.

It started snowing last night and after a brief sunshine this morning the snowfall started again. The town was covered under a blanket of snow by the afternoon. Most of the roads in the town were covered under snow paralysing movement of vehicles. Many people had to leave their vehicles back as they were unable to drive these back home in the evening.

It is after many years that such a heavy snowfall during the day time was witnessed.

Reports said the tribal areas of Lahaul-Spiti, Kinnaur and the Dhauladhars in the Kangra district also had a heavy snow.

The Solang slopes near Manali, where the winter sports will be where the winter sports will be held, had over 1 ft of snow today.

Reports said that Manali had about 6 inches of snow, while the Stingri and Keylong areas had nearly 2 ft. About one and a half ft of snow was recorded at Palchan.

JAMMU: Over 5,000 persons in about 850 vehicles remained stranded between Banihal and Batote on the Jammu-Srinagar highway for the second day on Friday.

3 militants holed up in mosque
Tribune News Service and Agencies

Srinagar, February 8
The security forces laid a siege to a mosque in which three suspected militants are holed-up at Tuntigund village in Kupwara district of North Kashmir this morning.

Police sources said the three militants, believed to be belonging to the Hizb-ul-Mujahideen, entered the mosque when they tried to give a slip to a patrol party of the security forces at about 9.30 a.m. The patrol party chased the militants who took shelter inside the mosque.

The sources claimed that two of them were foreigners and were armed with automatic weapons.

Efforts were being made to avoid any damage to the mosque in case of an eventuality. Appeals were made to the militants through village elders. The ultras hurled two grenades on troops, however, there was no loss of life.

In the retaliatory action, one militant was killed while two others were holding civilians hostages.