Security men look towards the building where militants remained holed up for the second day of the gunfight in Pampore on Tuesday. Tribune Photo: Amin War

Azhar Qadri

Tribune News Service

Sempora, October 11

After intervals of absolute silence, loud thuds echoed through Sempora locality outside Srinagar city on Tuesday as the security forces continued to bombard the seven-storeyed building of Entrepreneurship Development Institute, turned into a secure bunker by a fidayeen squad.Few blasts were so powerful that shock waves could be felt even at a distance of 500 metres from ground zero. The offensive to kill the militants, which entered the second day today, was fierce but slow paced as the security forces ruled out the effective but risky “room-to-room intervention”.Here at the entrance of Sempora, where the limits of Srinagar city end and the highway enters Pampore town, the security forces were attempting to end the battle with a fierce fury of firepower, without suffering any casualty. An Army officer said the priority was to avoid casualty to the security forces. “Time is no consideration,” the officer told The Tribune.As the second day came to a close, the exact number of militants was not known even though there was confirmation about the killing of one militant. Since Monday morning, when the fidayeen squad took position inside the building, the security forces have fired several hundred 84-mm rockets, often with randomness as the exact location of militants remained unknown.The attack began at dawn on Monday when militants sneaked into the EDI building from its rear side bordering the Jhelum river. The police officials said the militants blocked the staircase with chairs and tables, and then drew the attention by lighting a fire.The militants appear to have carefully selected the multi-storey building as its concrete structure, which has so far remained resistant to a fierce barrage of rocket fire.It is for a second time this year that the EDI complex has become the site of a gun battle between militants and the security forces. In February, militants ambushed a convoy of the CRPF on the highway and later positioned themselves inside the EDI complex for three days. Two CRPF personnel, three Army commandos, including two captains, a civilian and three militants were killed in the February attack.The latest attack has come at a time when the region is in the midst of the unrest sparked by the killing of militant commander Burhan Wani in July, and amid heightened tension after the Army’s surgical strike targeted militants across the Line of Control last month.In the afternoon of the second day, a police official near the encounter site said the militants had not fired any shot since 11 am yesterday, which has made it difficult to assess their precise location. The building was being bombarded, the official said, to make it “dead sure” that militants had been neutralised.The security forces pounded the sprawling building with rocket fire and improvised explosive devices (IED) throughout the second day. “There are reports that at least two militants have been seen moving down the staircase,” the police official said.“It is difficult for the militants to have survived 100 kg of IED blast detonated last night, but we have to be dead sure that they are dead. Otherwise there is no use of firing so much ammunition,” the official said.

Long wait amid fury of rocket fire

• As the second day came to a close, the exact number of militants was not known even though there was confirmation about the killing of one militant. Since Monday morning, when the fidayeen squad took position inside the building, the security forces have fired several hundred 84-mm rockets, often with randomness as the exact location of militants remained unknown.