M A I N   N E W S

Temple siege ends

Gandhinagar, September 25
The night-long operation to clear the Swaminarain temple here of the terrorists who had stormed it yesterday ended early this morning with two terrorists and one National Security Guard (NSG) commando being killed in the encounter.

Amid confusion about the exact number of terrorists involved, Gujarat Chief Minister Narendra Modi told reporters this morning that only two terrorists had entered the temple and both of them had been killed. Officials had earlier said that three terrorists were involved in the attack and that all of them were dead after the commando operation.

Mr Modi, who visited the temple this morning, said a large quantity of ammunition had been recovered from the terrorists whose identity was not known. No organisation had claimed responsibility for the attack. Modi said he had met the devotees who had been caught inside the temple during the standoff and that they would be allowed to leave after identification. Officials said 17 hand grenades were also seized from the bodies of the slain terrorists. 

The elite NSG as well as the Gujarat police lost one man each, NSG Director-General T Mishra told PTI. Among the six security personnel injured, three were NSG commandos, he added. Mr Mishra said the swiftly undertaken operation was not named, and had a three-pronged approach — to protect the shrine, protect the people trapped inside the complex and eliminate the terrorists. He said the type of adventurism shown by the gunmen proved that they were "well trained and well motivated." Asked whether they could be local miscreants, Mishra said "it does not seem to be." He said the cooperation of personnel from the BSF, CRPF and the local police had helped undertake the mission swiftly. Militants had taken position at a vantage location between the Sachidanand hall and the shrine where the number of devotees was maximum. "Their target was to cause maximum harm to the civilian population, including women."

At least two live grenades were recovered from the temple complex even as NSG and other forces have thrown in a thick security blanket. NSG personnel took out two live bomb-like grenades from the library on the right hand side of the entrance from near the exhibition hall where the militants had initially hurled bombs. The temple steps and premises have blood-stain marks. While temple volunteers were offering tea and snacks to NSG personnel, a large number of media personnel were inside taking snaps. PTI