SRINAGAR – Indian forces on Wednesday has claimed that two attackers positioned inside a building in a sprawling government compound near a highway running by saffron-rich Pampore town on the outskirts of the region’s main city of Srinagar, were killed.
Despite the three-day siege, Indian troops could not entirely flush out the attackers from the premises of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) which they stormed on Monday.
The two sides are still exchanging intermittent gunfire.
According to media reports, Indian forces are using heavy weaponry and rockets.
One soldier was also reported injured yesterday.
On Monday, gunshots and grenade blasts were heard from the site, where the army’s special forces, paramilitary soldiers and counterinsurgency police had cordoned off and encircled the government building, according to an officer who spoke on condition of anonymity with AP in keeping with department policy.
Late Monday, government soldiers launched what officials described as a “final assault” on the building, firing rockets, flame throwers and grenades to “neutralize militants,” the officer said.
Smoke billowed from the multistory building as the building caught fire in the raging battle.
Scores of people gathered on nearby streets to chant anti-India slogans in a show of solidarity with the attackers.
In February, five soldiers, three attackers and a civilian were killed in a three-day standoff in the same government compound.
