Srinagar, September 24
The 16-hour-long siege of a residential house in the Gogji Bagh locality here, which started with an attack on a police party last evening, ended as the charred body of a suspected militant was found this morning. The house was completely damaged in a night-long operation and the security personnel were looking for the body of another militant who engaged the security forces during the operation.

Three police personnel, who were reportedly held hostage by the hiding militants, were rescued unharmed early this morning. The Director-General of the Jammu and Kashmir police, Mr A.K. Suri said three police personnel were not held hostage by the hiding militants, but had taken preventive shelter in a separate room of the house. He said the militants attempted to be close to a polling station to disturb the poll process which began this morning. The police and security forces launched an offensive against the hiding militants only after the “rescue” of the three officers around 6 a.m. today. “We could not retaliate throughout the night because our personnel were inside the house”, said a police officer.

The Jamiat-ul Mujahideen militant outfit, which claimed responsibility for the attack on the proposed polling station, told some local news agencies today that four of its militants were involved in the attack. Three of them had returned to their destinations safely, a spokesman for the outfit told the news agencies. Earlier it had claimed that four militants had launched the attack, two of whom were locals and two foreigners. They were identified as two Pakistanis, Wajahatullah and Ibrahim, and two locals, Muneer Ahmad and Mohammad Ashraf.

The three police personnel, SP (South), Mr Mohammad Yusuf Bandh, and the SHO, Rajbagh, Mr Bhagwan Singh, along with an operator, came out of the house this morning.