Pampore battle ends, last militant killed

PTI & TT, Srinagar, Oct 12 : The 56-hour gun-battle between security forces and militants holed up in a government building at Pampore on the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway ended Wednesday afternoon with two militants shot dead.

As there were reports of two to three militants present in the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) complex, the security forces had to search all 50 rooms of the building before calling off the operation, an army official said.

“We have recovered bodies of two militants and the search operation at the EDI building in Pampore has been almost completed,” the army official said.

While one militant was killed on Tuesday evening, the other militant was shot dead by the security forces today, the official said.

The official said details about the slain militants were being ascertained but prima facie there were indications that they belonged to Lashkar-e-Toiba.

Security forces began pounding the EDI building with mortars shortly after the militants barged inside the complex with the aim of engaging the law enforcing agencies.

The operation, which lasted more than 56 hours, has reduced the multi-storey building to a skeleton after many of its brick walls were blown up.

Para commandos of the army were also called in to neutralise the militants, the official said.

The militants had stormed into the EDI complex early on Monday and took positions inside one of the buildings.