Indian troops storm hotel, end siege in central Srinagar

[Bhushan]

Indian troops storm hotel, end siege in central Srinagar


Flames engulf the hotel where militants were holed up during a gun battle with Indian security forces in Srinagar —AFP Photo

SRINAGAR: Commandos stormed a hotel in Indian-administered Kashmir on Thursday where two militants had been holed up for nearly 24 hours, killing the gunmen and bringing an end to the siege.

The four-storey hotel in Srinagar, the summer capital of the volatile Himalayan region, was on fire before police announced both extremists had been killed in a morning assault by security forces.

The gunmen – one a Pakistani and the other an Indian Kashmiri, according to police – had taken refuge in the hotel on Wednesday after throwing grenades and opening fire in Srinagar’s main market area.

One police officer was killed in the attack and one bystander succumbed to his injuries Thursday.

“The operation as far as we are concerned is over,” Kuldeep Khuda, the state police chief, told reporters at the scene.

A militant group, Jamiat-ul-Mujahedin, claimed it was behind the assault, which left five police and four civilians injured. Police pointed the finger at the Pakistan-based group Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT).

Overnight in Srinagar, police fired teargas to disperse scores of anti-India and pro-militant youths who threw stones at security forces, chanting “Kashmiri Mujahedeen, we are with you” and “We want freedom”.

Khuda said the police had cleared the building from the top floor before encountering and killing the first militant early Thursday.

“The other terrorist tried to set the building on fire... and he tried to make his escape but he was shot down,” he said.

Wednesday’s assault came as Indian Kashmir’s chief minister marked his first year in office by pledging to slash the security force presence in the region if violence continued to decline. —AFP

 

[Bhushan]

Terrorists were in touch with Pak handlers: Home Ministry sources

NEW DELHI: The Lashkar-e-Taiba terrorists, who were killed by security forces during the siege at Lal Chowk in Srinagar, were in constant touch with their handlers in Pakistan when they were holed up inside a hotel there.

According to highly placed sources in the Union Home Ministry, nearly 700 terrorists, half of them foreign mercenaries, are active in Jammu and Kashmir.

They said some more attacks were expected to take place as the holed up militants at the hotel in Lal Chowk area had communicated the same to their handlers in Pakistan, the sources said.

According to the official data available with the Home Ministry, 413 infiltration attempts were made from across the border during which 93 terrorists were killed while 110 managed to sneak in.

Out of the 110 who had infiltrated, 70% were foreign militants while the remaining locals.

The attacks in Srinagar was a result of shifting of focus of the police forces towards Jammu, which is the winter capital of the state, a senior official of the Home Ministry said.

 

[Bhushan]

Lashkar-e-Toiba (LeT) is still very much alive and has announced its new season of massacre with this attack. Now Indian government should give these bas...ds a bullet in their a$$.

 

[Bhushan]

Isn't it strange that this attack happened when Indian government announced to cut down army from Kashmir???

 

[Hulk]

They want to make sure that world does not feel Kashmir is at peace.
Some people attack and some others pelt stones, maybe organized by Geelani provoking people.