A gunbattle which lasted almost three days in Jammu and Kashmir ended yesterday with the killing of two militants holed up inside a government building, as the state reels from deadly unrest.
The militants took up positions on Monday morning inside a 60-room institute in the saffron-growing town of Pampore, 16km from Srinagar, the second time this year rebels have used the compound as cover to attack soldiers.
The building was empty at the time.
Soldiers pounded the government-run Entrepreneurship Development Institute with rocket grenades, flamethrowers and other weaponry before gaining access to it.
Major-General Ashok Narula said soldiers then searched the six-storey building room-by-room for the militants in a slow-moving operation that left one soldier injured.
“Two people have been eliminated and two weapons have also been recovered,” Narula told reporters at the scene after the operation was declared over.
In February five soldiers, three militants and a civilian were killed during a gunbattle that also raged for three days in another building on the same compound.
Rebels took refuge in the building after ambushing a paramilitary convoy.
“We had to proceed very cautiously since the building where the militants were holed up had 60 rooms. Two terrorists have been eliminated without any casualty to the security forces and two weapons recovered,” Narula said.
For three days, the security forces kept on aiming rockets, grenades and automatic gunfire at the building that had an exterior glass facade.
While parts of the building caught fire, the militants kept on changing positions inside the building and using their ammunition sparingly.
The entire complex was illuminated with floodlights during the two nights of operation to ensure the guerrillas did not escape.
The institute constructed with the help of central government funds for entrepreneurship development in the job-starved state is located on the banks of the river Jhelum.
The building was vacant when the two militants sneaked into it on Monday from the river side.
The institute had shifted much of its operations to Jammu in the wake of the current unrest in the state.
Officials said some cooks were sleeping inside the building but they came out as soon as it became evident that the militants had occupied its top floor.
A caretaker, who stays in the complex 24 hours, said he saw smoke coming out of the top floor and called the fire brigade and police on Monday morning.
“We don’t know exactly what happened and how the militants sneaked in and occupied the building. But fortunately there were no employees and no inmates,” he said.
Scores of villagers gathered this week near the compound shouting slogans in support of the militants and against Indian rule.
More than 90 civilians have been killed and thousands injured during the latest protests against Indian rule, sparked by the killing on July 8 of rebel leader Burhan Wani during a gunfight with soldiers.
Shops, schools and most banks have remained shut during the ongoing unrest, the deadliest since 2010.
Rebel attacks on government forces have also increased in recent weeks.
On Saturday militants attacked a police post in the southern Kashmir valley, killing one officer.
Militants raided an Indian army base in Uri last month, killing 19 soldiers in the deadliest such attack for more than a decade.
New Delhi blamed it on a Pakistan-based group.