All the three militants holed up in a five -storey government building in south Kashmir’s Pulwama district for more than 48 hours were killed on Monday afternoon.
To avoid casualties, the security forces took their time to close in on the militants, cornered in the top floor of the building of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute since Saturday, and struck them with the maximum ammunition power. “It was the deadliest attack of the year. The building had a huge space where militants had a good opportunity to hide,” said Major General Arvind Dutta.
126 civilians evacuated
The Army claimed that around 126 civilians were evacuated in bullet-proof vehicles on Saturday when militants after killing two CRPF jawans and injuring nine others on the Srinagar-Jammu Highway made their way into the government building at Sempora in Pulwama . One civilian was also killed in the cross-fire.
General Officer Commanding (GoC) Victor Force, Major General Arvind Dutta said, after the successful end of the operation, three AK-47s, ammunition and war-like stores were recovered from the three slain militants.
Recalling the initial moments of the encounter, Major General Dutta said: “When the CRPF attempted to enter the building, the terrorists threw a grenade and opened fire forcing the security forces to withdraw.”
