Kashmir mosque siege on as militant refuses to give up

SRINAGAR - The standoff between an injured guerrilla hiding in a mosque in Kashmir’s Bandipora district and the security forces continued Monday evening as a village cleric and elders failed to persuade the militant to surrender.

“The injured militant lobbed a grenade at the surrounding security men who did not retaliate in deference to the mosque inside which the militant is hiding,” a senior police officer said here.

The injured militant took shelter in the mosque in Dabban village after a gun battle early Monday morning when a group of militants moving around in the forest area near Dabban village was surrounded by personnel of the counter-insurgency force, the Rahstriya Rifles and state police.

The militants were challenged to surrender but instead opened fire on the security forces.

“One terrorist was killed and another injured in a gunfight with the security forces in forest foothill village of Dabban in Bandipora district early today (Monday). The injured terrorist entered the mosque in the village,” Army’s 15 Corps spokesman Lt. Col. J.S. Brar told IANS here.

“The local imam and village elders had tried earlier to persuade the holed up guerrilla to surrender, but failed,” Brar added.

Senior police and army officers have rushed to the spot to ensure that the situation is defused without causing any damage to the mosque.

Security forces, meanwhile, tightened the cordon around the mosque and put up flashlights to ensure the guerrilla does not escape in the cover of darkness.