Thursday, January 7, 2010

Lal Chowk operation ends, four killed

Indian army Commandos on Thursday stormed a hotel in Lal Chowk Srinagarkilling two Kashmiri liberation fighters, to end a 22-hour standoff that left also a civilian dead, sources said.
The two guerrillas, who attacked on Indian Central Reserve Police Force personnel threw grenades and opened fire Wednesday in Lal Chowk and later entered the Punjab hotel in the city centre and exchanged fire with Indian armed forces. "The operation has been concluded," Jammu and Kashmir police chief Kuldeep Khoda told reporters. "Two militants have been eliminated in this operation."
The Indian troops and paramilitary forces stormed the hotel shortly before noon and conducted room-to-room searches. "According to our information, two militants were behind the attack, but we are carrying out search operations to determine if there were more militants involved," Khoda added.
One dead fighter was identified by the Indian military agencies as Usman from Sopore.
Meanwhile, one identified as Muhammad Akbar Lone of Tangmarg of the eight civilians injured in the incident on Wednesday succumbed to his injuries on Thursday morning at the Soura hospital, the sources said.
The fighting also injured four Indian troops, a police officer said.
Dozens of armored vehicles swarmed the business district, which was closed to the public after the operation.
The injured civilians, who were hospitalized with bullet and shrapnel wounds, included a cameraman from a television news channel.
"We can only say that if there is no political solution to the Kashmir problem, these attacks are bound to happen," said Shakeel Ahmed Bhat, a software engineer with a shop in the area where the operation took place. Agencies

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