SRINAGAR, 5 October 2006 — Two members of the elite Special Operations Group were killed and seven people were injured in a gunbattle between militants and security forces yesterday.
Heavily-armed militants attacked a paramilitary checkpoint at Budshah Chowk in Srinagar ensuing a shootout. The militants later entered a hotel in a building and started firing from the window triggering panic in the area.
Security forces rushed to the scene as the firing erupted from the hotel window near Lal Chowk, the major shopping area in Srinagar. Police initially thought only one militant was involved but later said they believed there were two militants.
“They are firing from there and we’ve ringed the hotel,” police spokesman Vishal said. “Most probably there are two militants,” he added. But a group known as Al-Mansurian claimed responsibility in calls to local media. A caller identifying himself as the spokesman for the group told a local news agency, “Three of our Mujahedeen carried out the attack.”
Two security men were killed and three policemen and four civilians were wounded in the attack. Indian security forces say Al-Mansurian is a front for Lashkar-e-Taiba, an outlawed group fighting New Delhi’s rule in Kashmir.
Police rescued some 200 people trapped in shops just below the hotel where the guerrillas holed up. “It was an ugly experience. I’m thankful to the police for getting me out of the shops and giving me a new life,” said Mohammed Rafiq, as the sound of gunfire mingled with the call to prayer from a nearby mosque. Indian Kashmir has also been rocked by violent protests against the planned hanging on Oct. 20 of an Indian Kashmiri Mohammad Afzal convicted of conspiracy in a 2001 attack on Parliament. Militants have warned of “dire consequences” if the man is executed.
In separate violence, two militants were killed by security forces in Ashmaqum in Anantnag district about 93 kilometers south of Srinagar yesterday, a defense spokesman said.
In another incident, troops shot dead five militants in gunbattles late Tuesday and early yesterday, police said, adding two of the dead militants were “senior commanders” of Lashkar.
“One of them was involved in the killing of 50 people, including policemen and members from the Hindu community,” a police spokesman said.
