Pampore: Militants holed up inside EDI building, encounter underway

Police sources say that on Monday morning, fire erupted on the top floor of the EDI building at Pampore. And as fire servicemen rushed to Pampore to douse the flames, militants positioned inside fired shots announcing their presence inside the building.

Soon after the militant fire, heavy contingent of police, army and paramilitary forced were rushed to Pampore and the entire area was cordoned off.

Police sources say that two to three militants could be present inside the multi-storey concrete building. They say that militants might have deliberately set the building on fire hoping that police will arrive. “It could have been a plan. They could have thought that police will arrive once they see fire and they (militants) would easily target them,” said a police source. “But when the fire servicemen arrived, they fired to show their presence inside”.

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Police sources say that an army injured at Pampore sustained injuries when his own weapon on his foot and not in militant fire.

The EDI hostel building is five-storey and is built in concrete. In February this year, militants stormed the main building of the Institute after attacking a police and CRPF party. The encounter between militants and the army lasted for three days even as army used heavy artillery.

During the past week, police and paramilitary forces were on high alert in Srinagar after inputs of a militant attack. Police sources say they had inputs that militants were planning to attack a high value target in Srinagar like the Badamibagh cantonment. The cantonment is less than five kilometers away from the EDI complex.