The almost 60-hour encounter at the government institute in Pampore outside Srinagar ended on Wednesday, with the killing of two terrorists. In another incident, the Army foiled an infiltration bid along the Line of Control (LoC) at Tangdhar in Kupwara district of Jammu & Kashmir.
Heavy firing was on since morning at the government-run Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), where one terrorist was killed on Tuesday evening. The encounter ended after the second was killed on Wednesday.
“The bodies of two terrorists have been recovered. The operation is over,” an Army officer said. A third terrorist was suspected to be present but this was ruled out after a thorough search.
Terrorists entered the seven-storey EDI building on Monday morning and set mattresses in a room on fire to attract attention. An encounter began soon after, with one soldier being injured on the first day.
Govt. building reduced to skeleton as operation ends
At the government institute in Pampore outside Srinagar, where the terrorists had holed up, intermittent firing had been going on since Monday with heavy firing and explosions in between. The Army fired mortars and rockets on the building in an attempt to either flush the terrorists out or push them to one corner of the building. The Army had consciously avoided moving in too quickly, as it had lost five men in the earlier terrorist attack on the institute in February this year.
An Army officer said a room-to-room search was undertaken to rule out the presence of a third terrorist. The building had 60 rooms which made the search tedious as well as risky, due to the possibility that they could have been rigged with explosives.
The Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI), which imparts vocational training to youth has been shut for the last few months due to the continuing unrest in the Valley.
Army officials said an educational institute could have been targeted as a strategy to keep all educational institutions closed, as part of the ongoing protests.
When the militants struck at the imposing EDI building in February this year, five security force personnel including two young Army officers and a civilian employee of the Institute and three militants were killed. That operation lasted 48 hours. Adopting a cautious approach, the security forces pounded the EDI building with mortars and rockets since Monday to flush out the militants suspected to be of the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT).
“We took our time. This building has 60 rooms. It has a ground floor, six floors and one attic; 60 rooms have as many bathrooms. That is the reason it took time to clear each and every room,” Major General Ashok Narula said.
The operation, which started on Monday, has reduced the multi-storey building to a skeleton after many of its walls were blown up.
The militants could have entered the complex from the riverside but it is yet to be ascertained, an official said.
PTI adds..
Rajnath reviews security situation
Home Minister Rajnath Singh on Wednesday reviewed the security situation, particularly in J&K, with Defence Minister Manohar Parrikar, NSA Ajit Doval and other top officials. Officials briefed Mr. Singh and Defence Minister on the situation in J&K in the wake of the gunbattle in Pampore. The Ministers took stock of the situation along the Indo- Pak border.
Infiltration attempt foiled
Meanwhile, the Army foiled an infiltration attempt by militants from across the LoC in Tangdhar sector of Kupwara district in J&K. “An infiltration bid was foiled by Army in Tangdhar sector,” an Army official said.
