A militant, who injured eight policemen during a night-long gunfight, managed to break a government forces cordon and escape in the dark Thursday in Jammu and Kashmir’s summer capital, Srinagar.
A fierce gunfight broke out in Ahmad Nagar located on the outskirts of Srinagar on Wednesday late evening after forces cordoned off the area and conducted door to door search operation.
The gunfight which started at around 10:00 PM on Wednesday, left eight policemen including an sub-inspector injured.
The militant, whose identity remains unknown, fired heavily on forces and lobbed grenades. Most of the injuries were caused by grenade splinters, hospital sources said.
The gunfight took place in a two-storey building which houses a shawl weaving centre.
Earlier on Wednesday evening, heavy contingent of police, Special Operation Group (SOG), and paramilitaries arrived in the area following reports of presence of militants.
“At 6:15 PM on Wednesday, we were told to close shops by forces. The search operation started at around 7: 30 PM,” a resident told.
The firing between militants and government forces continued till pre-dawn hours. “The firing continued for whole night. We haven’t slept as we were terrorized. At around 3:30 AM, there was intense firing and few blasts,” a resident said. “After that there was complete silence,” he added.
On Thursday early morning, forces called off the operation as there was no firing suggesting that the militant escaped in the dark.
The structure, where the encounter raged, was damaged badly with bullet marks on its inner and external walls, witnesses said. Bashir Ahmad, who weaves Pashmina in the centre, told that he left the centre at 4: 30 PM on Wednesday. “I left the centre but other people were there,” he said, adding: “there are total eight workers.”
He said: “When forces arrived, they thrashed one of the worker, Rafiq Ahmad, who was later hospitalized, and after that I don’t know anything.” He estimated the damage caused to the centre 2.5 lakh.
Residents accused forces of ‘punishing’ them. While speaking to reporters, they said government forces fired pepper shells in the area. “The peppers made our night hell,” they alleged.
Press was barred to move to the gunfight site and stopped a kilometer away, journalists said. However, journalists visited the scene of gunfight once the forces retreated.
Source: kashmirdispatch.com
