Srinagar, Nov 11 (IANS) The long drawn gunfight between militants, holed up in a hotel building, and surrounding security forces in Sopore town of north Kashmir ended Sunday morning with two guerrillas and a trooper being killed.
“The operation is over. Both the holed up militants in the (New Light) hotel building have been killed and their bodies recovered,” a senior police officer said.
The exchange of fire in the apple-rich town, 54 km from here, had erupted Thursday when two heavily armed militants made an abortive attempt to storm a paramilitary Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) camp.
In the initial attack, a trooper was killed and five security men were wounded. CRPF and Special Operations Group (SOG) of police immediately surrounded the hotel building and engaged the militants in a sustained gunfight.
“The operation got prolonged because our effort was to avoid collateral damage in the densely populated area in the heart of Sopore town,” the police officer said.
Security forces killed the first militant Saturday evening after storming the hotel building.
The hotel building was extensively damaged in the four-day long gunfight. Some shops in the vicinity were also damaged.