Srinagar, January 07: Security forces today stormed a hotel in busy Lal Chowk area killing two LeT terrorists including a Pakistani, ending a 22-hour fierce gunbattle that also left a policeman and a civilian dead.
At least 11 persons including two CRPF jawans were injured in the encounter, the first this year, which paralysed life in the heart of the city.
“The encounter is over. Two terrorists of Lashker-e-Taiba including a Pakistani have been killed,” Director General of Police Kuldeep Khoda told reporters at the scene of the gunbattle.
The Pakistani terrorist was identified by security agencies through wireless intercepts as Qari while the other was named as Usman from Sopore.
Security forces had a tough time dousing the fire that erupted in Hotel Panjab even as the terrorists lobbed grenades and opened indiscriminate firing at them.
–PTI