30 hours on, gunbattle continues between Army and terrorists in J&K's Pampore; 7 killed

Srinagar: The anti-terror operations in Pampore area of Jammu and Kashmir has been continuing for over 30 hours now. At least four-six terrorists are holed up inside the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) building are exchanging fire with security forces.

Terrorist have been cornered in the Machine room in the building which is built out of concrete. The security forces are trying to demolish the room with rockets but there is no success so far.

Three Army personnel, two CRPF jawans, one civilian and a terrorist were killed in the encounter.

The multi-storied building of EDI building caught fire on Sunday afternoon. Through the day, the terrorists kept on firing and throwing grenades on the security forces who have surrounded the building and making attempts to storm it.

Army lost Captain Pawan Kumar, Captain Tushar Mahajan and jawan Om Prakash, all of the elite Para commando units, in the gunbattle on Sunday. The army succeeded in eliminating one of the terrorists by the evening, an official said.

Captain Pawan Kumar, who hailed from Haryana's Jind, sustained grievous injuries in terrorist firing as security forces tried to make their way into the building in the early hours on Sunday, an army official said. He succumbed to injuries later.

Captain Tushar Mahajan from Udhampur was also injured in the encounter and succumbed to injuries later at hospital. As the security forces exchanged heavy gunfire with the holed up terrorists, another soldier from the Para unit, Om Prakash, was injured and taken to 92 Base Hospital of the Army at Badamibagh Cantonment where he succumbed.

The terrorists have been holed up in the building since Saturday afternoon after they attacked a CRPF convoy, killing two jawans and a civilian and injuring nine other jawans.

Nearly 100 civilians -- staff and students of EDI -- were evacuated to safety by the security forces from the building, a police official said.

He said the operation might be prolonged as terrorists seem to be heavily armed.

The open structure of the building where the terrorists are hiding also poses a difficulty to the security forces in advancing towards it, he added.

(With additional information from PTI)