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Introduction: Gunbattle in progress on Ali Jan complex as 2 militants holed up
Security forces today foiled the militants’ first ever suicidal attack on the official residence of the Chief Minister Mufti Mohammad Sayeed on Maulana Azad Road. While as two BSF soldiers died and 10 others—including an incharge Commandant and three photojournalists—sustained injuries, both the heavily armed militants took shelter in the nearby Dr Ali Jan Shopping Plaza. Jammu & Kashmir Police and Border Security Forces (BSF) have launched a joint operation to eliminate the militants inside the 4-storey shopping complex wherefrom 25 civilians had been evacuated till late tonight. SP North Ramesh Kumar Jalla and Dy SP SOG Srinagar Sandeep Wazir were among the four J&K Police personnel who got injured in the daylong gunbattle with the militants.
Director General of Police, Gopal Sharma, told EXCELSIOR that two heavily armed militants lobbed hand grenades and fired AK-47 bursts on some BSF officials, who were on duty at the entrance of Dr Ali Jan Shopping Complex, at about 10.00 a.m today. Two BSF constables died on spot while as a Deputy Commandant and two soldiers sustained injuries. Both the militants rushed into the 4-storey shopping plaza and created a pandemonium with indiscriminate firing.
DGP said that the injured included three photojournalists who had quickly reached the spot and were clicking pictures when militants dropped a grenade, which exploded, on the Plaza premises. He said that Police and security forces launched an operation to flush out the militants. While the gunbattle was in progress, SP North, Ramesh Kumar Jalla, Dy SP SOG Srinagar, Sandeep Wazir, and two Constables sustained injuries. The Police chief asserted that none of the injured was critical. He said that in all 25 civilians were successfully evacuated by Police and security forces till late tonight. According to him, 10 of the civilians were rescued from the shopping plaza and 15 others from the adjoining structures.
Gopal Sharma sounded confidant that Police and security forces would eliminate the militants without causing much damage to the shopping complex and without suffering any more collateral damage. He said he was confident that there was no civilian trapped in the building at 2300 hours. Sharma said that Police and security forces would launch the final assault at their own convenience.
DGP refuted the reports strongly that the militants had launched a suicidal attack on the nearby Chief Minister’s residence, which is 50 metres from Ali Jan Plaza. He said that the Chief Minister had left for a scheduled visit for Aligarh early in the morning. His daughter and the ruling PDP chief, Mehbooba Mufti, was present at the CM’s residence for the whole day alongwith other members of the family. DGP said that the Chief Minister returned from Aligarh and went straightaway to his home this evening. As usual, he put up in the house with other members of the family.
Earlier in the evening, Mehbooba Mufti spoke to EXCELSIOR from the CM’s house and said that the gunbattle was going on right from the forenoon. She confirmed that she could not move out due to the fierce encounter underway in close vicinity of her house.
Official sources identified the injured BSF personnel as Incharge Commandant of 43 Bn, Pramod Kumar, Head Constable Rajinder Kumar and Constable Shri Gopal. Three photojournalists, who sustained splinter injuries, were identified as Syed Muzaffar of Srinagar Times, Danish Ismail of Greater Kashmir and Rafeeq Maqbool of AP. Officials said that they were admitted in a hospital but claimed that all the three were stable. Recipient of three President’s Police and Gallantry medals, R K Jalla has got injured for the fourth time since he joined SOG Srinagar as a Dy SP in 1995. This time he has sustained injuries in his hands and limbs.
While the uptown was deserted due to the daylong gunfight and security forces sealed all roads leading to the CM’s residence immediately after the shootout, at least three militant outfits claimed responsibility for launching the Fidayeen attack. The Al-Mansoorain spokesman, Abu Shakir, told CNS over telephone that two militants of his organisation, namely Abu Masood and Abu Khabib, had launched the strike, as Mufti Mohammad Sayeed was their target. Another caller, who identified himself as Sayeed Wajid Ali, told the local news agency that some militants of his organisation had actually executed the attack.
Without going official, senior Police
officers admitted that today’s militant attack was originally aimed at
the CM’s residence. They said that the militants attacked the BSF soldiers
at the Ali Jan entrance but they also directed gunfire and grenades on
the Banquet Hall entrance of the well-fortified CM’s house. They said that
the vigilant BSF soldiers repulsed the attack and did not allow the Fidayeen
to take over the premises.
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