Srinagar CRPF camp battle ends, 2 LeT militants dead: Top 10 developments

Two Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) militants were killed by security forces in Srinagar's Karan Nagar area on Tuesday after a gunfight of nearly 30 hours that had started after a failed attack bid on a Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp in Kashmir.   

The exact identity of the militants was yet to be established, the police said, adding that a search operation in the area was going on.

Earlier on Tuesday, intermittent firing had continued between security forces and terrorists at a CRPF camp in Srinagar's Karan Nagar. Pakistan-backed terrorist organisation, the Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT), has claimed responsibility for the attack, which led to the ongoing gun battle and has claimed the life of a CRPF jawan. 

Fierce fighting continued between militants and security forces in the heart of Srinagar on Monday after a foiled attack on the CRPF camp left a trooper dead and a policeman critically injured. 

  

Here are the top 10 developments: 

1) Gun battle ends with two militants dead: Two holed up LeT militants, involved in a failed terror bid on a CRPF camp in Srinagar, were killed on Tuesday in a nearly 30-hour-long gunfight, police said. "While one was gunned down as he came out of the under-construction building to get into another adjacent building, the other was trapped and killed inside the building that they took refuge in on Monday," a police officer said. 

The militants had taken shelter inside the Karan Nagar area building a day ago after an alert sentry at the observation post of the 23rd battalion of the CRPF spotted them and fired, averting a possible terrorist attack on the camp.  

The militants were forced to withdraw and later trapped inside the building from where they had been engaged in the gun battle with the security forces. 
 

2) LeT claims responsibility: A caller identifying himself as Mehmood Shah of the Lashkar-e-Taiba telephoned a local news agency owning responsibility for the attack on the headquarters of the 23 battalion of the Central Reserve Police Force. 

An attempted attack by militants on a CRPF camp in Kashmir was foiled on Monday, with a gunfight breaking out between security forces and the attackers, who took shelter in a building in Srinagar's Karan Nagar area. One CRPF jawan lost his life after being grievously injured in the ongoing encounter. The attack comes close on the heels of the strike on the Sunjuwan military camp in Jammu by a group of Jaish-e-Mohammad terrorists, which left six people, including five Army personnel, dead. 

3) One CRPF jawan killed: On Monday, a CRPF personnel, who was seriously injured in the gunfight during the ongoing encounter at the CRPF camp in Srinagar's Karan Nagar, succumbed to his injuries.  

The trooper was wounded in the shootout as the security forces prepared for a final assault against the holed-up militants, a police officer said.

He was shifted to the nearby SMHS hospital, barely 300 metres away from the site of the gunfight, and died later.

It was the same hospital from where Pakistani LeT militant Naveed Jat alias Abu Hunzullah managed to escape on February 6 after killing two policemen.

4) Special Operations Group deployed: Troops of the CRPF and the Special Operations Group (SOG) of Jammu and Kashmir Police were carrying out the operation against the militants.

Kashmir police chief S P Vaid in a tweet said: "I congratulate alert CRPF sentry for averting Suicidal attack in Karan nagar Srinagar. Fortunately two terrorists are in cordon & exchange of fire going on." 

5) 'Militants couldn't enter HQ': Speaking to news agencies, CRPF IG Ravideep Sahai said: "They (militants) couldn't enter the headquarters but sneaked in a building close to the HQ. Five families have been evacuated. Operation is on."



6) Alert sentries foiled the attack: Earlier on Monday, the militants had attempted to strike the CRPF camp but their attack was foiled by alert sentries, officials said.   

"The sentry at the camp noticed two suspicious persons at around 4.30 am, carrying backpacks and weapons. He challenged them and opened fire," a spokesman of the CRPF said.

7) Militants tried to flee: The militants fled from the spot and took shelter in an under-construction house nearby, the officials said. The building was cordoned off by the CRPF. According to senior CRPF officials, there were two militants. 

8) More troops to cut off escape: Intermittent exchange of fire was reported and the CRPF has moved in more troops to ensure that the militants do not escape.

  

9) Incident follows Sunjuwan attack: The incident comes two days after Jaish-e-Mohammad militants attacked an Army camp in Sunjuwan area of Jammu, killing six people, including five soldiers. 
  

 

10) Defence minister puts Pak on notice: Pakistan will pay for its "misadventure" and India reserved the right to respond at a "time of its choosing", Defence Minister Nirmala Sitharaman said on Monday, while blaming Islamabad for the terrorist attack at the Indian Army's Sunjuwan military camp in Jammu. After a visit to the Army camp, Sitharaman also asserted that Islamabad was expanding its "arc of terror" to areas south of the Pir Panjal Range in the Jammu region.