news details |
|
|
| Two CRPF personnel, one civilian killed in encounter with militants at Sempora-Pampore | | Militants take refuge in EDI building | |  Jehangir Rashid
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Feb 20: At least two Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel were killed while as nine others sustained injuries during an encounter between the militants and security forces near Sempora in the Pampore area on Srinagar-Jammu national highway. An employee of Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) was also killed in the shoot-out.
Following the shoot-out the militants took refuge in the building of EDI where they are engaged in a gun-fight with the security forces personnel who have laid a cordon around the building. The authorities have suspended the movement of traffic on the highway connecting Srinagar with Jammu.
Eye-witnesses told Early Times that the encounter broke out after a convoy of CRPF which was on its way to Srinagar from South Kashmir was attacked by militants near the EDI building located in the Sempora locality in Pampore area. The CRPF personnel were caught unawares due to the firing and some of them sustained grievous injuries in the incident.
Following the shoot-out the militants ran towards the EDI building located in the vicinity and took refuge. There was chaos and confusion inside the EDI building since the employees were present there along with some other civilians. The gunshots rattled the whole area and the gunfight between the two sides assumed the form of a full-fledged encounter. With no let up in firing between the militants and CRPF personnel reinforcements were rushed to the area and the siege was going on when last reports came in. There are reports that at least three militants are hiding inside the EDI building and they have stopped firing on security forces personnel with the dusk setting in. "The casualties as well as injuries to the CPRF personnel took place in the initial burst of the militants. All the civilians as well as employees of EDI who were trapped inside have been rescued and shifted to safer places. The firing has stopped for the time being but the cordon has been tightened around the building," said a police official. An employee of EDI who was injured in the incident succumbed at Shri Maharaja Hari Singh (SMHS) hospital. He has been identified as Abdul Gani Mir resident of Gundipora, Pulwama.
Sources said that although most of the employees as well as civilians have been rescued, but it is not sure whether all of them have been evacuated. The police official said that CRPF personnel who have been killed in the encounter have been identified as Head Constable Bola Singh and Constable D K Raina. Both of them belonged to 144 Battalion of CRPF. Nine other personnel of the Force have been injured in the encounter so far. The injured CRPF personnel have been shifted to 92 Base Hospital at Badamibagh for treatment.
Meanwhile, protests broke out in the Pampore area while the encounter was going on in the Sempora area. Protesters mainly youth came out on the main road and tried to march towards the encounter site. They were stopped by the police and CRPF personnel who were deployed on the main road. On this the protesters pelted stones on the security forces personnel. Pitched battles were going on in various localities of the Pampore area when this report was filed. |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
|
|
 |
|
|
|
|
STOCK UPDATE |
|
|
 |
| BSE
Sensex |
 |
| NSE
Nifty |
|
|
| |
CRICKET UPDATE |
|
|
|
|
| |
| |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
