The Hindu : Another terrorist killed

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Tuesday, Nov 26, 2002

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Another terrorist killed

By Luv Puri

Jammu Nov. 25. The 13-hour night-long encounter between terrorists and the security forces came to an end here this morning after the shooting down of a `fidayeen' (suicide squad militant) who was holed up inside a residential complex near the Shivalya Mandir here. He was killed after a fierce battle in which two security personnel were injured, one of them critically.

The deadly attack on the Shiva temple came some time after the attack at the Raghunath temple on Sunday night in which one terrorist had been killed.

The communication system around the temple was disrupted resulting in further panic and the entire area was cordoned off. The security forces had a tough time carrying out a frontal assault as the terrorist had taken refuge in a residential complex in the old city and from where there were many escape routes. The entire area was in darkness, further prolonging the assault. Also, the terrorists had chosen a residential area just a few hundred metres away from the Chief Minister's house.

When it was learnt that a group of terrorists had entered the residential area, bullet-proof vehicles were pressed into action. Around 2 a.m. there was a let-up in firing and later there was no return fire from the terrorist. Eyewitness told The Hindu that after fleeing from the Shiva temple, the injured terrorist tried to seek shelter in one of the houses, but was denied entry. Then the terrorist scaled a wall nearby and entered the top floor of another house owned by a woman, Chanchal Gupta.

The terrorist then hid himself under the bed and around 7 a.m. today Ms. Gupta who went upstairs for cleaning the room found blood on the quilt. Immediately, she called the police camping near her house. They did not shoot the terrorist, as they wanted to confirm his identity. But he hurled a grenade and police rushed in reinforcements.

Then the terrorist started firing indiscriminately and hurled more grenades. A three-hour encounter followed, with all the troops near the Shiva temple being rushed to the area. Finally, the terrorist was killed in a combined operation of the Special Operations Group and the CRPF when he ran out of ammunition around 10 a.m.

Y.N. Rao, DSP, in an act of dare-devilry, tried to launch a frontal attack on the terrorist but was injured in his arm. A constable, Vijay Kumar, was also injured. The DGP, A.K. Suri, blamed the Lashkar-e-Taiba for both the attacks.

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