Saturday, July 30 2005 16:53 Hrs (IST) - World Time -

Srinagar: At least 38 people, including two tourists from Punjab and a TV journalist, were rescued by security forces from buildings, at the scene of a fierce encounter, at Budshah chowk in the heart of Srinagar today (July 30, 2005).

"Twenty four trapped people were evacuated to safety from UCO bank office at Budshah chowk this afternoon (July 30, 2005), nearly 21 hours after a gun battle erupted between the militants and security forces in the area yesterday (July 29, 2005)," Deputy Inspector General of Border Security Force (BSF), K Srinivasan told PTI.

Srinivasan said two tourists, identified as Vipin Mishra and Nand Kishore of Jhalandar, were rescued from Bombay-Gujarat hotel building, where one of the militants is held up.

The operation against the ultras was briefly halted to allow rescue efforts, the officer said.

He said 11 people, who did not move out of Hotel City Centre, located 100 metres from the site of encounter, in the wake of the encounter, were escorted to safety by security forces.

Among those rescued was Star News correspondent Pervez Bukhari. Many others, including several tourists, still remained trapped in several buildings, which were in the line of fire.

Twenty-five staff members of Urdu daily Aftab, including its Chief Editor Khwaja Sanaullah Bhat, were trapped inside their office. "All the people here have been without food since then," a spokesman of the paper said.