As Indian security forces fought terrorists in Pampore and lost two young captains over the weekend, mosques in Frestabal, Drangbal, Kadlabal and Sempora areas played recordings which eulogised the terrorists.

According to news reports from the ground, hundreds of youth had tried to physically prevent the security forces from launching a combat operation against the terrorists. The crowd assembled across the rivulet at the site of the encounter in the Entrepreneurship Development Institute (EDI) building and repeatedly clashed with the security forces.

Meanwhile, pro-Pakistan (jivey, jivey Pakistan) and pro-Azadi (hum kya chahtey: azadi) slogans blared from the mosques. However, the police could not enter the mosques to stop this provocation.



A group of youths pelted cops with stones in a locality near Sempora. This place is within a hailing distance of Jammu and Kashmir’s capital, Srinagar.



The entire Pulwama district, including the separatist hotbed of Tral, observed a complete shutdown on Monday in ‘solidarity’ with the holed-up terrorists, stated posters put up by the separatists.

The security forces mounted an assault on the building on Sunday and met with stiff resistance from the terrorists inside the building.

Two officers of the rank of Captain and Lance Naik of the elite Para Force of the Army were killed while trying to flush out the militants. While Captain Pawan Kumar was killed in a pre-dawn exchange of fire, Captain Tushar Mahajan and Lance Naik Om Prakash sustained fatal injuries on Sunday afternoon.

The 48-hour fierce gun battle on the outskirts of Srinagar ended on Monday evening after the security forces managed to neutralize the three “foreign terrorists”. The EDI building is situated along the Srinagar-Jammu National Highway.

There was a large number of civilians in the EDI building when the terrorists went inside. The focus of the security forces was to evacuate all civilians to safety. They used bullet-proof vehicles to evacuate 120 civilians from the building.