Srinagar, January 8
With the death of a holed-up militant in the income tax office building after a day-long encounter with the security forces here this afternoon, the death toll in the incident has gone up to seven. The operation that began with the suicide attack by the militants yesterday ended after about 25 hours.

The Deputy Commandant of the BSF, Mr S. S. Rawat, constable Manay Kumar and police constable Ghulam Mohiuddin and a militant were killed yesterday. The building was also gutted in the encounter.

A fresh encounter began this morning when the police and security forces launched searches to flush out the holed-up militant. The militant lobbed a grenade and fired at the search party, injuring four police personnel. One of them, Mohammad Ashraf, succumbed to his injuries while being shifted to hospital.

The encounter continued for several hours, after which the militant was trapped in the ground floor of the building. He was killed in the exchange of fire with the security forces.

The police also recovered the body of Waheed Ahmad Sheikh, an employee of the income tax office, from the debris. He had been reported missing following the suicide attack yesterday.

All other employees of the Income Tax Department were rescued by the police and the security forces amid an exchange of fire.

The police also recovered the body of the militant who engaged the security forces in the day-long operation today. The body of his accomplice had been recovered yesterday.

Elsewhere, at least three persons, including a PDP worker, were killed in separate incidents in the valley since yesterday.

The security forces recovered large quantity of arms and ammunition during searches in Poonch and Udhampur districts of Jammu division.