Two terrorists were gunned down in the encounter with security forces in Pampore town of Jammu and Kashmir which entered Day 3 on Wednesday. The bodies of both the militants killed in the operation have been recovered, police said. Security forces have been pounding the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) since Monday when the terrorists attacked.
“The operation at Pampore is still going on but it is definitely now in final stages,” the official told PTI. The anti-terror operation has been going on for the past 52 hours as major portions of the building have been reduced to rubble.
The Indian Army’s elite para commandos have also been called to neutralise the terrorists. Two to three terrorists stormed into the EDI complex in the wee hours of Monday and took positions inside one of the buildings.
The terrorists could have entered the complex from the riverside but that can only be ascertained once the operation is over, the official said.
After getting inside the complex, the militants set on fire few mattresses inside a hostel room to attract the attention of the police and other security forces, which arrived within minutes of the smoke emanating from the building.
In the initial exchange of firing, one army soldier was injured, the officials said. The building was attacked by the terrorists in February as well. Five security personnel, two army officers and an employee of the institute besides three terrorists were killed in that 48-hour-long operation.
In another development, the Indian Army foiled an infiltration bid in Tangdhar sector of Jammu and Kashmir’s Kupwara district on Wednesday.
Meanwhile, curfew remained in force in Srinagar as a precautionary measure for Muharram, as normal life continued to remain affected on the 96th day since violence broke out in the Valley in the aftermath of Hizbul militant Burhan Wani.
