Indian forces fail to clear compound in IOK

A gunbattle between Indian occupation forces and Kashmiri freedom fighters, holed up in a multi-storeyed government building complex in occupied Kashmir, entered the second day on Tuesday.

On Monday, a group of freedom fighters had entered inside the compound of Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) building in Pampore town on the outskirts of Srinagar and engaged security forces in a daylong gunbattle.



“Security forces have launched a fresh offensive this [Tuesday] morning to flush them out,” the Times of India quoted an Indian army official as saying. He said the area around the building premises has been cordoned off with an intermittent exchange of fire with the fighters.

“Terrorists are firing and moving across the building, ruling out the option of burning it down,” said another official, suggesting the encounter may last another day or two as the fighters have not yet been confined in a part of the building.



According to the Indian media, the fighters had set on fire a few mattresses inside a hostel room to attract the attention of police and security forces which subsequently cordoned off the building.

The incident came nearly a week after Indian soldiers claimed to have shot dead three suspected militants who tried to raid an army base in northern Kashmir on Thursday.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 12^th, 2016.