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Gunbattle ends in Srinagar, militant killed

     Srinagar: The 24-hour long gunbattle between security forces and militants in the Lal Chowk area of Srinagar came to an end on Tuesday evening with the killing of one militant and the arrest of his partner, Director-General of State Police Gopal Sharma said. Sharma said that the operation ended when the security forces shot dead one militant and arrested the other one. The arrested militant, who is 18-19 years of age, has been identified as Aijaz Ahmad Bhat and was codenamed as "Abu Sumna," while his killed associate is yet to be identified, Sharma said, adding that Bhat was a resident of Faislabad in Pakistan and was understood to have infiltrated into Kashmir after the October eight earthquake. Earlier in the morning, three civilians were rescued by security forces from the Peak View Hotel in Lal Chowk, which was followed by even more intense operation by the Central Reserve Police Force (CRPF) to kill or apprehend the militants. In the gunbattle, which began at around 3 p.m. yesterday when the militants hurled a grenade at the CRPF bunker at Palladium Chowk followed by firing at the security personnel there and at Ghanta Ghar, four persons, including two civilians were killed and 13 other were injured.

      Meanwhile, former Jammu and Kashmir Tourism Minister and senior PDP leader Ghulam Hassan Mir escaped unhurt while 13 people were seriously injured in a militant attack during a public rally at Tangmarg, 45 km from Srinagar. Sources said militants lobbed a grenade towards the dais when Mir was addressing a public rally at Tangmarg, his home constituency. Mir sustained minor splinter injuries in his leg. All the injured have been admitted hospitals for treatment. Sources said the condition of five of them is critical. Meanwhile, the venue of the public rally has been cordoned off by the security forces and a hunt has been launched to nab those responsible for the attack.