Operation resumed against holed-up militants in Kashmir

Security forces on Wednesday morning resumed operation against holed-up guerrillas inside a government building near Pampore town in Jammu and Kashmir's Pulwama district as the standoff has continued for over 36 hours.

"There has been no firing from inside the hostel building of the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) since today (Wednesday) morning," a senior police officer said.

Some unconfirmed reports have said that on Tuesday one militant was killed, but Defence sources said they would confirm it only after the body was recovered.

Security forces kept on pounding the building where the guerrillas armed with rockets, grenades and automatic gunfire have held the forces at bay.

Two security personnel and a policeman were injured as the militants fired from inside on Monday.

The 70-room, seven-storey building is located at Pampore on the banks of the river Jhelum and 12 km from the Srinagar city centre.

The joint operation was launched by the army, the Special Operations Group of the state police and the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF).

The main building of the institute was attacked in February when militants captured it and launched a major attack on security forces. Six persons - a civilian, three soldiers and two paramilitary troopers -- were killed then before the three militants were shot dead.

--IANS

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