Holed-up militants in Lal Chowk killed

‘‘It was an extremely difficult operation for us. We knew there were civilians trapped inside the buildings in the area, so we went ahead with patience,’’ Director General of J-K Police Gopal Sharma told the Express. ‘‘We rescued 72 civilians.’’

The major challenge for the forces this morning was to find the location of the militants as they fired from different directions at regular intervals during the night.

‘‘Last night we suspended the operation but encircled the area in a tight cordon. Militants kept firing at the troops,’’ said Deputy Inspector General of Border Security Force K. Srinivas. ‘‘Our priority was to rescue the civilians,’’ he said.

Srinivas said they finally zeroed in on two buildings — Bombay Gujarat Hotel and the Fancy Fabrics block, adjacent to the Taj Hotel Shopping Complex, a few yards ahead on the other side of the Maulana Azad Road. ‘‘Around noon, we rescued two people from the Bombay Gujarat Hotel,’’ he said. DSP Haseeb Mughal said the two tourists were extremely frightened and fainted on the spot.

After ascertaining the location of the militants this morning, the police and the security forces engaged them. ‘‘It was a war of nerves too,’’ an officer who led the final assault said. The men in the BSF bunker on the slab-roof of the Bombay Gujarat Hotel made holes with iron bars above each room. Then, the men kept firing inside the rooms to push the fidayeen towards the bathroom. ‘‘When the militant was cornered in the bathroom, we killed him,’’ Srinivas said.

The other fidayeen was, meanwhile, shifting places in the Fancy Fabric building. ‘‘Last evening, he hurled grenades and opened fire at us from the top of the building. Then he went inside,’’ DSP Haseeb Mughal said. ‘‘He would suddenly emerge and open fire. And when a bunker vehicle of the Special Operations Group of police launched an assault, he tried to target it with a rocket. But somehow, both his AK rifle and RPG (Rocket Projectile Gun) fell straight on our bunker.’’ He was killed immediately.

When the police picked the bodies of the two militants, send them to the Police Control Room and announced the end of the operation, some people from the surrounding neighbourhoods of Maisuma and Koker Bazar came out on the road shouting anti-government slogans. The police, desperate to wind up the operation, teargassed the procession.

Meanwhile, the Jamiat-ul-Mujahideen and Al-Mansurian, in a statement to a news agency, claimed that four of its militants were engaged in a fire-fight with the forces. They blamed the forces for the casualties.