Saturday, January 8 2005 15:22 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Srinagar: Two persons, including a policeman, were killed and three others injured inside income tax office building in Srinagar as the intermittent firing between a holed up militant and security forces continued for the second day today (Jan 8, 2005).

Body of a civilian, believed to be that of a missing income tax employee Mushtaq Ahmad was recovered by the search party from the upper storey of the gutted building this afternoon, raising the number of persons killed in the 22-hour-long ongoing encounter to seven.

Two militants and three security personnel, including a Deputy Commandant of Border Security Force (BSF), were yesterday killed in the encounter, CRPF (Central Reserve Police Force) has said.

Deputy Inspector General, BSF K Srinivasan, who is supervising the operation since yesterday, said one of the militants was still alive and was hiding in the ground floor of the building.

The militant, suspected to be injured, is hurling grenades whenever the search parties tried to reach him, Srinivasan said.

We are taking precautions and moving cautiously to neutralize the militant to avoid further casualty, the BSF officer said.

After the nightlong suspension of the search operation, security forces moved inside the building this morning to carryout thorough searches but came under grenade attack from inside which resulted into the killing of constable Mohammad Ashraf and injuries to three others - Assistant Sub-Inspector Mehmood and constables Babu Ram and Naseeb Ahmad.

Intermittent firing and occasional blasts continued since then as all attempts to neutralise the holed up militant failed so far, official sources said.

The encounter broke out yesterday when a two-member suicide squad of al-Mansoorian outfit stormed the heavily-guarded income tax building in Barbarshah locality killing a sentry of CRPF and a local policeman Ghulam Mohiuddin of security wing.

Reinforcements immediately rushed to the scene and a gunbattle ensued which resulted into the killing of Deputy Commandant of BSF, S S Rawat and injuries to two senior officers - one each belonging to CRPF and BSF - and two others including a CRPF jawan.