Commandos end police HQ siege

Commandos end police HQ siege
TARIQ BHAT

SRINAGAR, DEC 28: Commandos on Tuesday stormed the counter-insurgency headquarters of police, killing two militants and breaking a 24-hour siege of the complex by militants. Several policemen trapped inside were also rescued.

The security forces lost 10 men, including a Deputy Superintendent of Police, Ghan Shyam. More than 15 police personnel were injured. Besides, a detenue, Bashir Ahmed Khan was rescued in an injured condition.The operation was personally supervised by the Director General of Police, Gurbachan Jagat, who flew from Jammu to take charge. The Inspector General of Police, Ashok Bhan and IGP (BSF), K Vijay Kumar, spent most part of the day on the spot.

The drama began Monday evening when Harkat-ul-Mujahideen militants broke into the high security complex after shooting dead a sentry at the gate. Four other policemen, including a deputy superintendent of police, were later killed inside the complex from where the Special Operation Group (SOG) operates. Their bodies were recovered onTuesday.

Dozens of policemen were trapped inside along with militants as the Army's 13 Garhwal, which is camping nearby, ringed the complex. Reinforcements from police, BSF and Central Reserve Police Force cordoned off the entire area encompassing the complex. The security forces also took positions in some residential areas in Haptchinar and Solina.

Though the officials didn't reveal the number of policemen holed up inside, sources said nearly a 100, police and CRPF, had been trapped in several apartments of the concrete building. Throughout the night, the militants, who had occupied a portion of the complex, exchanged fire with the security forces who had ringed the headquarters from outside.

Army troops trained several rockets on the portion of building from where the militants where firing. Srinagar resounded with intermittent gun and rocket fire throughout the night. Tension prevailed for most part of the day as the gunfire continued till evening. No traffic of any kind was allowed from the threeroutes Naz Crossing, Tagore Hall and Tulsibagh till 6 pm on Tuesday leading to the complex.

The ammunition store which the militants had captured was completely destroyed in the 24-hour encounter. Fire tenders were pressed into service soon after the operation was completed to extinguish the flames that erupted out of ammunition and engulfed a portion of the building.

Ashok Bhan, IG, soon after the completion of the operation said all the the SOG men were rescued safely.`` The SOG men who had been had trapped were rescued by armoured personnel vehicles under covering fire safely,'' he said.Bhan said the ammunition store got destroyed during the operation. ``The store has been destroyed and the extent of loss of arms and ammunition is being ascertained. Most of the ammunition comprised those recovered from the militants,'' he said. The reporters, however, were denied access to the building.

Speaking to The Indian Express, the IG said that he was impressed by the exemplary bravery displayed by SOG cadre.``The army did fire rockets on the building which also resulted in the destruction of the ammunition store, but the final assault was done the SOG and BSF,'' he said.

The drama ended this evening when a joint commando team of Army, BSF and SOG finally stormed the complex killed the two militants of the pan-Islamists Harkat-ul-Mujahideen after a fierce encounter.