Pampore encounter: Seize ends, three terrorists killed, sanitization ops continue

Fresh firing broke out between militants and security forces today as the operation against ultras holed up in a government building in Pampore area on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway entered the third day.

File photo/PTI

Srinagar: Security forces on Monday confirmed all three militants, suspected to be from the Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) group, were killed, ending a more than 48-hour long seize at the entrepreneurship institute in Pampore in Jammu and Kashmir.

The bodies of three slain terrorists at the Entrepreneurship Development Institute in Pampore were recovered.

Major General Arvind Dutta told reporters currently sensitization operations are underway to ensure no other terrorists hiding in the building.

He said that the slain militants were foreign terrorists and members of a suicide squad.

“At night we launched our plan to neutralise the terrorists. Three militants killed, arms and ammunitions recovered,” GOC Victor Force Maj Gen Dutta said, adding, “I salute the martyrs, the bravery they showed was commendable”.

The development comes after the security forces on Monday morning launched their final assault on the militants holed-up in the institute on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

Militants in the building engaged the security forces in intermittent exchange of fire from 5.30 am, a police official said.

He added that there were no fresh casualties on the side of the security forces as they have adopted a strategy of wearing down militants physically as well as in terms of ammunition reserves.

Two CRPF jawans and a civilian were killed and nine other jawans injured when militants opened fire on a CRPF convoy on Saturday afternoon.

The ultras, whose exact number is not known yet, then took shelter inside the EDI building, triggering a stand off.

Nearly 100 civilians -- staff and students of EDI -- were evacuated to safety by the security forces from the building.

As the security forces mounted an assault on the building yesterday, they met with stiff resistance from the ultras who are holding vantage points inside the building.

Two officers of the rank of captain and a Lance Naik from the elite Para force of the Army were killed while trying to flush out the militants.

While Captain Pawan Kumar was killed in a pre-dawn exchange of fire, Captain Tushar Mahajan and Lance Naik Om Prakash sustained fatal injuries in the afternoon. 

(With agency inputs)