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| Death toll in Pampore encounter reaches six, militants continue to holed up inside EDI building | | |  Jehangir Rashid
Early Times Report
SRINAGAR, Feb 21: The death toll in the encounter between militants and security forces at Pampore on the Srinagar-Jammu national highway reached six with three army personnel losing their lives today on the second day of the encounter.
Some of the reports said that one of the militants holed up inside the building of Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) has been killed. However, the death of the militant has not been confirmed and as such the death toll is six at present. The firing has stopped at the encounter site for the time being.
Reports said that an army captain lost his life in the wee hours today when he tried to enter the EDI building and flush the militants believed to be three in number from the EDI building. The deceased captain has been identified as Captain Pawan Kumar of 10 Para SF.
The gun-fight between the two sides that got suspended on Saturday night resumed as soon as the army personnel tried to storm the building and kill the militants. Successive attempts of the security forces personnel to storm the EDI building could not fructify since the holed up militants resorted to heavy firing.
The army used camera-laden Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAVs) to locate the position of the militants who have taken position inside the multi-storey building of EDI. Reports said that militants have taken up position in the canteen of the EDI located in the upper floor of the building.
Srinagar based defence spokesman of 15 Corps Col N N Joshi said that Captain Pawan Kumar of 10 Para SF and Lance Naik Om Prakash of 9 Para SF were killed in the anti-militancy operation at Pampore. Captain Pawan is a resident of Jind, Haryana.
"After cautiously evacuating all civilians from the premises to safety, the officer led his team to deliberately clear the building in which the militants had been holed up. Captain Pawan led his men from the front and indeed drew a fatal volley of fire, which the daring commando and his team quickly retaliated. He later succumbed to his grievous injuries but not before fixing the location of these militants thereby facilitating the progress of further operations," said defence spokesman.
Col Joshi said that Lance Naik Om Prakash whose team had closed in on the hiding militants, was also injured and later succumbed. He had been earlier awarded with the 'Asadharan Suraksha Seva Praman Patra' by the Prime Minister of India on August 15, 2013 for gallantry in counter militancy operations.
Late in the evening yet another captain identified as Captain Tushar Mahajan of 9 PARA Commandos succumbed to his injuries at the 92 Base Hospital at Badamibagh. At least 13 Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) personnel who were injured in the firing of militants are receiving treatment at the hospital along with some other security forces personnel.
The encounter between the two sides started on Saturday afternoon when a convoy of CRPF which was on its way to Srinagar from South Kashmir was attacked by militants near the EDI building. Two CRPF personnel were killed while as nine others sustained injuries in the initial burst of fire from the militants.
An employee of EDI was also killed in the shoot-out. Following the shoot-out the militants took refuge in the building of EDI. For the second consecutive day today the authorities suspended the movement of traffic on the highway connecting Srinagar with Jammu.
Meanwhile, protests broke out in the Pampore area for the second day running today. At least five youth sustained injuries in the pitched battles between the groups of agitating youth and security forces personnel in the Pampore area. |
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