M A I N   N E W S

2 cops die in attack on CRPF picket
Tribune News Service

The attack that created panic was launched at around 11-30 a.m. when the market place in central Lal Chowk area was abuzz with normal business. Shopkeepers and those working in business establishments and banks ran for cover.

Shutters were downed at Budshah Chowk, Lal Chowk, Maisuma and Kokar Bazar locality around the site of encounter.

According to police officers, two armed militants opened fire on the security picket at Akhara Building and took positions in the third floor of Standard Hotel. They initially hurled a grenade in which three civilians were injured.

The entire area was cordoned off and intermittent firing between the militants and police and CRPF was going on.

Al-Mansoorian has claimed the responsibility for the suicide attack, according to a local news agency. A spokesman of the militant outfit said three of its militants were engaged in the attack.

Traffic was diverted from the Lal Chowk area for some time but was later allowed on the Residency Road-Clock Tower-Amirakadal bridge axis.

Panic gripped students in the nearby Tyndale Biscoe School. An official of a bank located about 100 yards away from the site of encounter, who had ventured out to know the welfare of his children in the school, was not allowed to return to the duty in the afternoon.

Meanwhile, two militants of Lashkar-e-Toiba were killed in an encounter with police at Gradwan Nad near Ashamuqam in Anantnag district this morning. They have been identified as Abu Maaz, alias Chima, alias Muzamil, chief operation commander of Lashkar-e-Toiba, and Abu Qasim, divisional operational commander of the outfit. Two AK 47 rifles, 47 AK rounds, three hand grenades, one pistol and rounds were recovered from the deceased militants.

The police and Army unearthed a hideout of militants in Nagri forest area of Kupwara district and recovered large quantity of arms and ammunitions. The recoveries included one RPG launcher, three RPG heat round, three RPG boosters, two RCL shells of 20 kgs each, seven Pica rounds and one IED trigger machine, the police here said.

A security force official told UNI from the spot that a group of sharp shooters have entered the ground floor of a hotel despite heavy firing by militants hiding there.

Official sources said two militants earlier hurled a hand grenade and indiscriminately fired on CRPF guards posted on the main gate of the historic Dashnami Akhara.

When CRPF personnel returned the fire, the militants ran into the nearby hotel.

The body of one person could be seen near the entrance of the hotel building. However, it was not immediately known whether he was a militant or a civilian.

Sources said three other persons, including hotel manager Abdul Rashid were injured in the firing. A driver was also injured at Dalgate, about two km from the spot, after a stray bullet, believed to be fired by the security forces in the air at Budshah Chowk, hit him.

2 killed in Army firing