Security forces kill two rebels, end Kashmir siege - Summary

Srinagar, Kashmir - Security forces on Thursday stormed a hotel in Indian-administered Kashmir, killing two Muslim militants and ending a 22-hour standoff, officials said. The two militants, suspected to be a suicide squad from the Pakistan-based Lashkar-e-Taiba (LeT) group, had taken refuge in the Pubjab hotel the region's capital Srinagar on Wednesday, after a grenade and gunfire attack which left a policeman and a civilian dead.

"The operation has been concluded," Jammu and Kashmir police chief Kuldeep Khoda told reporters. "Two LeT militants have been eliminated in this operation."

The militants threw grenades and opened fire Wednesday in Lal Chowk, a busy commercial area in the center of Srinagar, before holing up in the hotel. A policeman was killed at the scene, and a civilian died of his injuries in hospital on Thursday.

Shortly before noon, security forces stormed the four-storey hotel where the militants were hurling grenades and firing at the troopers from the top floor. Nearly 600 people were evacuated from nearby buildings.

"According to our information, two LeT militants were behind the attack, but we are carrying out search operations to determine if there were more militants involved," Khoda said.

Senior police officials told the PTI news agency that one of the militants was a Pakistani national identified by the single name Qari while the other was a local man from Sopore town near Srinagar.

Seven people including some security personnel injured in the attack remained hospitalized.

The strike was the first suicide attack in Srinagar in three years. Militants mounted a similar attack in Lal Chowk in October 2006.

No group has so far claimed responsibility for Wednesday's attack.

The LeT is among the biggest militant groups operating in India-administered Kashmir and has been behind a number of attacks in India, including the November 2008 Mumbai attacks, which left 166 people dead.

Kashmir, a region claimed by both India and neighboring Pakistan, has witnessed the deaths of more than 45,000 people - civilians, militants and security forces - since a secessionist militant movement began in the late 1980s.

New Delhi has accused Islamabad of aiding and abetting Kashmiri militants, a charge that Pakistan denies. Islamabad said it supports the Kashmiris' legitimate aspirations for freedom.

"There has been a ... serious effort by Pakistani elements to target not only Jammu and Kashmir but other parts of India and Srinagar has been one of the prime targets," police chief Khoda said.

The police chief added that there had been a sharp drop of 30 per cent in militant violence in the state in 2009.

Source: Earth Times.
Link: http://www.earthtimes.org/articles/show/302512,security-forces-kill-two-rebels-end-kashmir-siege--summary.html.