Police end Kashmir mosque siege, killing gunmen

Police ended a day-long siege at a mosque in Indian Kashmir late Monday, rescuing the hostages and shooting dead the gunmen who were holding them, the Press Trust of India reported.

The militants had taken five people captive on Sunday afternoon when soldiers raided Palnoo village in Kulgam, 80 kilometres (48 miles) south of the main city of Srinagar, to flush out rebels.

Three of the hostages had escaped earlier Monday after being sent out by the militants to collect food but failing to return.

As the siege moved into its second day police managed to draw the hostage takers out of hiding by lobbing tear gas, the report said. In the ensuing gun battle two of the three rebels were killed.

The third militant managed to flee and took shelter in a minaret at the mosque. He exchanged fire with police for nearly an hour before he too was killed, PTI added.

Senior police official H.K. Lohia was quoted as saying that all five hostages were unharmed in the encounter.

Earlier he had told AFP by telephone that the mosque had been cordoned off and that officers were "trying to secure a peaceful end to the crisis."

Two people including a soldier were injured on Sunday when shots were initially fired.

Militants often taken shelter in Kashmiri mosques in the past, leaving security forces with the dilemma of whether to risk a public backlash in the Muslim-majority state by pursuing them.

A standoff at Kashmir's holiest mosque Hazratbal lasted 34 days in 1993, ending when rebels were given safe passage without their weapons.

But a two-month siege in 1995 of another Muslim shrine, Chrar-e-Sharief, resulted in fierce fighting that killed 17 people and destroyed the holy site.

In other violence, police said militants belonging to a key pro-Pakistan guerrilla group Lashkar-e-Taiba died in an overnight gunbattle with security forces in Papachan, 60 kilometres (36 miles) north of Srinagar.

Kashmir is in the throes of an Islamic insurgency against Indian rule that has claimed tens of thousands of lives since it began in 1989.

AFP
 

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