Srinagar, January 16
Two militants and an equal number of CRPF personnel were killed and seven others, including police and security personnel, got injured in a 25-hour-long encounter that ended at the indoor stadium today evening.
The encounter resulted in damage to the building that houses the Regional Passport Office.
The encounter began following a suicide attack around 4.15 pm yesterday when two heavily armed suicide militants of the Al-Mansoorian outfit forced their entry into the heavily guarded premises of the stadium.
Three CRPF jawans guarding the main entrance to the premises of the indoor stadium were injured in the initial attack when the militants lobbed a grenade and opened fire. They forced their entry into the building.
The area was cordoned off immediately and an unidentified militant was killed in an exchange of fire between the holed up militants and the security forces early this morning.
The stadium, which has a building and a youth hostel nearby, is adjacent to the Bakshi Stadium, the venue of the main Independence Day and Republic Day functions in the winter capital of the state.
The Tagore Hall, main auditorium of the Jammu and Kashmir Academy of Art, Culture and Languages, which hosts most of the cultural programmes, is also close to the indoor stadium.
The CRPF, assisted by the police, stormed the hostel building around 3 pm today to flush out one militant, who had managed to sneak into it after the Passport Office building was gutted.
More than two hours later, the holed up militant was shot by the CRPF men while he was trying to flee from the building, CRPF DIG S.S. Singh said.
One of the militants was killed in an assault launched by the security forces at the Passport Office building early this morning, after a night-long siege.
The building caught fire in the firefight, resulting in heavy damage to it.
Two CRPF personnel, including a Sub-Inspector and a Constable were killed in the exchange of fire, Mr S.S. Singh said.
Their
bodies were recovered from the spot later.There was a fierce gunbattle between the security forces and the militants holed up in the building of the State Youth Services and Sports Council. Militants hurled grenades and fired from AK-47 rifles on the security forces, injuring at least three other jawans.
As part of preventive measures, all roads leading to the indoor stadium were sealed off by the police and the security forces soon after the attack. Vehicular and pedestrian movement was restricted on the main roads separating the indoor stadium and the Bakshi Stadium from AS College on the one side and Iqbal Park on the other. Movement was also restricted in the lanes and bylanes of the adjacent Wazir Bagh locality.
Meanwhile, an activist of the Harkat-e-Jehad-e-Islami outfit was arrested in Anantnag district on Sunday, a police spokesman said.
One mortar bomb (51 mm) was recovered from the possession of the arrested person whose name has been withheld for security reasons, the spokesman said.
