Standoff between holed-up guerrillas, security forces continues in Kashmir

Srinagar, Oct 11: The standoff between security forces and guerrillas holed-up inside a government building near Pampore town in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district continued for the second day on Tuesday even as reports said one militant had been killed but there was no official confirmation yet.

Security forces kept on pounding the hostel of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) where guerrillas armed with rockets, grenades and automatic gunfire have been holding the security forces at bay for over 24 hours now.

While parts of the multi-storey building caught fire, guerrillas kept on changing position inside the building while using their ammunition sparingly, police said.

Reports said in the evening, one guerrilla had been killed in the operation and his body was lying inside the building.

Defence sources here said they would confirm the death only after the body was recovered.

"Although the entire complex has been illuminated with floodlights, there is complete darkness inside the building this time.

"We don't want to take any unnecessary casualties. The operation will be resumed with the first light tomorrow (on Wednesday)," a defence sources said.

Security forces had resumed the operation on Tuesday morning with rockets and heavy automatic weapons being used against the ensconced militants.

Two security personnel and a policeman were injured as the militants fired from inside the hostel building of the EDI on Monday after they entered the building.

The 70-room, seven-storey building is located at Pampore on the banks of the river Jhelum and 12 km from the Srinagar city centre.

The joint operation was launched by the army, the Special Operations Group of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

The main building of the institute was attacked in February when militants captured it and launched a major attack on security forces. Six persons - a civilian, three soldiers and two paramilitary troopers -- were killed then before the three militants were shot dead.

IANS