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'The encounter is still continuing'

In a daring attack on the high-security 15 Corps headquarters in Srinagar, militants killed six security personnel.

Four of them, including an army officer, belonged to the defence ministry's public relations office.

Lashkar-e-Toiba, a pro-Pakistan extremist group, claimed responsibility for the attack, according to STAR News.

Sources said the militants attacked a passing Border Security Force vehicle with a hand-grenade. They followed it up with firing on the main road in the high-security Badami Bagh cantonment area. A BSF jawan died on the spot.

This was followed by a gun battle between militants and army troops, who laid siege on the Batwara area where the army headquarters is located. Police sources said militants hurled grenades.

After the attack on the BSF vehicle, a report said, the militants sneaked into the army camp and fired grenades at the building that housed the PRO office, which is very close to the main gate of the headquarters, from another building nearby.

The army officer killed was identified as Major P Purushottam, the defence PRO. Three of his personnel were also killed.

rediff.com correspondent Mukhtar Ahmad, who tried to reach the spot but was turned back by police at Sonwar, reported that the army had cordoned off the Batwara main market.

"The encounter is still continuing," Ahmad said. "I could hear sounds of gunshots and explosions even at 0130 IST. A local told me that the troops were using flares. They are also using mortars on the building where the militants are hiding."

In the morning, addressing a press conference, the 15 Corps commander, Lieutenant General Krishan Pal, had said the army had mounted massive operations in north Kashmir to flush out militants from the jungles. He said around 1,500 militants had sneaked into the valley this year, and it would take another six months for the army to restore normalcy in the troubled border state.

The general, in charge of counter-insurgency operations in the valley and part of the Line of Control in Jammu and Kashmir, had admitted that the militants "had taken some bold actions this year".

His reference was to the attacks on several army camps in the northern Kashmir district of Kupwara, which had killed several soldiers, including a colonel. But little could he have imagined that the same evening, his own headquarters would be attacked.

Three journalists were with Major Purushottam just before the attack. But defence spokesman Col Bawa told rediff.com on telephone that the three -- Habib Naqash of The Asian Age, Faiyaz Ahmad of New Delhi Television, and S Tariq of ANI -- were safe.

Col Bawa said some four militants sneaked into the PRO's office of the PRO at 1800 IST and hurled grenades and fired indiscriminately, killing six staff members of the office, including Major Purushottam, the PRO of 15 Corps.

The area was immediately cordoned off and searches were mounted. The colonel said the PRO office and an adjoining building have been encircled as the militants were still firing from inside. He said the fire is beinf returned and added "we will eliminate the militants". He said the operation will end by tommorow morning

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