A day after Indian paramilitary forces began a gradual withdrawal from counter-insurgency operations in Indian-administered Kashmir, Islamic fighters attacked a hotel in the summer capital Srinagar. The hotel was being used by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) which is replacing the paramilitary Border Security Force (BSF). The fighters hurled bombs and fired automatic rifles at the Scindia Hotel in the Indira Nagar residential area in the high security Badamibagh Cantonment, on Tuesday. The fighters quickly forced their entry into an adjacent building after killing a CRPF personnel and wounding three others, police said. A few civilians were also injured in the shootout.
| But they're not important... |
Soon troops from the cantonment arrived and sealed the area. The CRPF and the army launched a joint operation. As the fighting continued through Wednesday, the holed up fighters hurled a grenade from the second floor of the building, resulting in injuries to three army personnel, including a commanding officer and his deputy. As the firing continued, security forces tried to rescue the officials and other staff at the building housing a telephone exchange. A senior security force officer said, "We want to evacuate the employees of the exchange before launching the final assault."
| I doubt that would be on the gunnies' agenda, though... |
The al-Mansoorian group claimed responsibility for the attack.
The phasing out of the paramilitary BSF involving eight battalions (about 8000 men) is being projected by Chief Minister Mufti Muhammad Sayyid as an indication of improvement in the ground situation in Kashmir. However, Muslim separatists have ridiculed the assertion insisting it will not change the life of an average Kashmiri. âWe see it only as the replacement of one occupation force by another,â said pro-independence Jammu Kashmir Liberation Front (JKLF) leader Javed Ahmed Mir. K Srinivasan, a deputy inspector general of the BSF said, âBy the end of this month the process (pullout) will be complete.â |