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Mukhtar Ahmad in Srinagar
Four Central Reserve Police Force jawans were killed and five others wounded after a three-member suicide squad of Lashkar-e-Tayiba stormed a heavily guarded CRPF camp at Gogji Bagh in Srinagar on Monday evening.
A senior police officer said one fidayeen (suicide attacker) has been killed in the continuing gun-battle.
Sources said three militants arrived in a vehicle near the main entrance of the company headquarters of CRPF 88 Battalion at Gogji Bagh and opened indiscriminate fire at the sentry post. A CRPF guard manning the bunker at the main gate died on the spot.
The militants then forced their entry into the camp and killed three more CRPF guards who tried to engage them.
When reports last came in, CRPF and Border Security Force troops had surrounded the building where the two militants are holed up.
Senior police officers with reinforcements have rushed to the spot.
"We hear only sounds of gunfire and explosions. There is a heavy deployment of troops in our locality," said a local resident reached by phone.
A senior police officer said several CRPF jawans and officers are inside the camp building occupied by the militants. "We don't know the exact number," he said.
The entire area near the Tagore Hall has been sealed.
Paramilitary commandos, sources said, are preparing to storm the building.
Deputy Inspector General of Police K Rajendra and other senior CRPF and BSF officers are present at the spot.
Three of the four jawans killed have been identified as: Wazir Singh, Ghulam Haider and Abdul Quyoom.
Five CRPF jawans, who received serious injuries in the firing, have been shifted to the army base hospital. One bystander who was injured in the crossfire has been taken to the Bone and Joint Hospital.
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